Brendan Ryan (Labour)

Immediately after the conclusion of the Order of Business this morning, Members will complete their deliberations on the Dublin Transport Authority Bill 2008 by debating the Bill's Report and Final Stages. As Members are aware, this Bill was initiated in this House and in recent weeks, Members have devoted much effort to it. Many Members spent much time on the Bill, tabled many amendments and debated it at length with the Minister who accepted many of the amendments. Last week, Members spent several hours debating amendments without concluding Committee Stage, which Stage resumed on Tuesday and, after several more hours of debate, concluded at 6 p.m.

After the conclusion of Committee Stage, the Bills Office must then print the Bill as amended. Members were given a deadline of noon yesterday by which to have tabled Report Stage amendments. Senators Donohoe and Norris and I spent much time going through the amendments. Although Members had the opportunity to debate the Bill first in this House, the matter has been rushed at the end for no practical reason. Members have not been able to conclude it properly. They should be given time to research the issues, respond to the Minister's replies, take up and seek advice on the Minister's comments regarding his own advice and to respond. Yesterday morning, while Members were attempting to table amendments, the electronic version of the Bill was not available on the Internet, which is completely unacceptable. The Bill probably will sit on the Dáil Order Paper for three months. At a minimum, I ask the Leader to respond to this issue positively. Members must have at least a week between Committee and Report Stages to be able to do justice to legislation and in particular to legislation that commences in this House.