Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

I endorse what Senator Butler said about the Bill not being guillotined in this House. I also agree there was a high standard of debate in the Seanad. This was reinforced for me this morning when I was listening to the Order of Business in the other House. The danger of open-ended debate is that it encourages Members, Ministers included I hasten to add, to divert from the main subject. It does, however, impose a certain degree of self-discipline and this was observed in this House.

I do not wish to name individuals outside of the House but a certain name was mentioned here. I did meet the said gentleman in my office some time in the past couple of weeks. He put his points to me. In the end we cannot have what the former Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, once called the paralysis of analysis. One can have endless intellectual debate about this, that and the other but none of us can tie down the future beyond a certain point. Both the Executive and Legislature have to take decisions without being able to guarantee fully everything that is going to happen as a result of that legislation for all future time. Risks do have to be taken but they should be well-considered and well-calculated. I appreciate there are differences of opinion as to the degree to which this legislation meets that criterion.

Apart from the President signing the Bill into law, as far as the Houses of the Oireachtas are concerned these motions bring this legislation to a conclusion. I thank the House for the part it has played in the legislation and of which it can be proud.