Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

I support the Leader of the Opposition, Senator Fitzgerald, regarding the amendment to the Order of Business. Yesterday I questioned the time allowed to consider the Intoxicating Liquor Bill. The Bill was discussed in the Dáil yesterday and there were 56 amendments, categorised in a number of groups. The first three amendments, which were fairly technical, were discussed together, as was a second group of two. A third group, many amendments of which concerned the opening hours of early houses, which issue has been resolved, were also discussed. At a maximum, 13 of 52 amendments were discussed and, given the guillotine applied to the legislation, no time was allowed for any debate on the other important amendments to be discussed on Committee Stage. There is an important point of procedure to be considered in this regard and I appeal to the Leader to use his influence to address the problem. It is not just a question of time for debate but of time for consultation. People have made representations to Members and time should be allowed to consider appropriate amendments.

Mistakes have been made in legislation. In this House we have dealt a number of times with legislation to correct mistakes in criminal law. We do not want to revisit the Intoxicating Liquor Bill to correct mistakes that have crept in because it was rushed. We need proper parliamentary scrutiny of legislation and rushing it without good reason brings both Houses into disrepute.