Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I congratulate the Minister of State and his officials on bringing this Bill to the House. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to speak on Second Stage, having missed by about ten seconds, but I made some points to the Minister of State afterwards. My only concern is that while the treaty was open for signature in 1999 it has yet to come into force. Some 176 countries have signed the treaty and Ireland is the 136th to do so. I congratulate the Minister of State for accepting the tenor of the amendments tabled by the Labour Party.