Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

I wish to say a few words about the procedure in this House. As Senator Alex White said, the debates this week have shown that were proper time to be allowed for debates on important criminal law legislation, in particular, the legislation could be improved. That is a simple fact. We do not mind working late and extra days to get the legislation right. History has shown that rushed legislation is generally bad legislation.

We will speak this morning about the IMF report and the OECD report on the economy but there is another report, the bord snip nua report, which is not only an analysis but has specific recommendations as to how to deal with the public finances. I note from the The Irish Times this morning that Deputy Mary O'Rourke is calling for the publication of this report, as are other Fianna Fáil Deputies. It is curious that the Minister for Finance has not indicated whether he will publish it. The Government seems reluctant to do so, yet the Minister's mother considers that it should be published. There seem to be many disaffected people within the Government ranks about how the Government is handling issues concerning the economy. We can talk about the IMF report and the OECD report this morning, but the bord snip nua report outlines specific recommendations as to how to resolve issues concerning our public finances. It is important that this report be published. Given the state of our public finances, it is extraordinary if we are going to hide this report for a number of months, go on holidays and take no action. The Government should reconsider that. We should be debating that report alongside those other reports.