Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

It has been a useful debate in that we have covered an amount of ground. I do not believe Senators have trespassed too far and I will try to deal with all of the points raised in the context of the amendments before us.

Listening to Senator Norris, I was reminded of the late Professor F.S.L. Lyons's assessment of the position of the old Irish Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons in London whereby they were in the assembly but not of it. It struck me that the Fine Gael Party now finds itself in a similar position in Seanad Éireann in that it is in the House but not of it.