Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

While I fully appreciate the Senator's concerns in respect of this amendment, I cannot guarantee with certainty when the Comptroller and Auditor General will complete his audit in any given year. As a consequence, no date is specified for submission of the accounts and the audit report before the Houses of the Oireachtas. However, section 37(5) specifies that the accounts and the report of the authority must be presented to the Minister as soon as practicable after the audit, at which point they will be laid before each House of the Oireachtas. As such, I do not propose to accept this amendment. I have listened attentively to what Senator Quinn has said. I appreciate the businesslike approach he tries to bring to bear on proceedings in the House, but we have a handicap or hurdle that normal business does not encounter. In asking the Senator to take that on board, perhaps he will understand why I am not in a position to accept the proposed amendment.