Dan Boyle (Green Party)

Senator Fitzgerald asked several questions which were followed through by other Senators. She asked about the lack of legislation on our weekly clár. It is a matter of ongoing concern that we cannot free up legislation but I am confident we will be able to do so in the next number of weeks. We have two Bills on our Order Paper due for Committee Stage, namely, the Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2008 and the Coroners Bill 2007. The Bills require amendments to be brought forward by the Department of Finance and the Department of Justice and Law Reform, both of which are entertained on other matters currently.

Major legislation will go through the other House in the next week or so and I am confident they will come before this House in a matter of weeks, one of which is the Dublin Lord Mayor Bill 2010, about which Senator Hannigan inquired. Second Stage of that Bill will be debated in the other House this week. The other Bill is the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2010 which is going through Committee Stage in the other House. They are both major Bills which I expect to see very soon in this House.

Senator Fitzgerald also spoke about the economic and political uncertainty caused by other events and the decisions of other people. As the Cathaoirleach pointed out, it is not our place to talk about how the other House runs and its future. Such decisions are disappointing in that we have very difficult decisions to make. As Senator Donohoe said, at a time when we require level heads and a certain amount of moral courage, that requires people being present when those decisions must be made. I hope when those decisions are made that we have that type of moral courage required.

Senators Fitzgerald, Coghlan, Donohoe and Bradford mentioned budget day. As of now, budget day has been pencilled in for 7 December but a definitive decision has not been made as to whether that will be the date or whether it needs to be brought forward. Obviously, the Government will take into account how it must react to international sentiment. In terms of moving the date too far forward, we do not want to see a repeat of what happened with a budget which was brought forward precipitously and was not the budget it should have been. That happened only a few years ago. We must be very cautious with this budget above all others. I ask for a certain amount of patience on Members' part in that regard.

Senators Fitzgerald, Hannigan, Phelan and Bacik asked about the likely increase in the student registration fee. The choices to be made in this set of Estimates and the budget in seeking additional income and curbing expenditure in all Departments will be difficult. I am bemused by the attention the registration fee issue is receiving. The registration fee has been in place for several years and increased year on year, including last year. The equation of registration fees with tuition fees is very far off the mark.