Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

It is a great pleasure to be in Seanad Éireann to introduce the Finance Bill 2011 to the House.

The Bill was passed by the Dáil in a very short period of time and we all know the political circumstances which led to that. It is a matter of regret to me that the procedure was accelerated as much as it was, and the procedure of two weeks would have been preferable. I thank, first, my officials and the staff here at the Houses of the Oireachtas for the considerable efforts they have made to ensure the Bill could be dealt with in an expeditious way. Great credit is due to them on that account.

Of course, if there were no amendments in the Bill, as every Senator will be aware, it would be possible to pass the Bill in a day. However, necessarily and inevitably, every Finance Bill involves amendment and a process of amendment, and the general precedent has been that the Bill is not enacted until the end of March every year and that the Bill is not published until late January. My Department arranged, after receiving the appropriate directions from myself, to have the Bill published on Friday last, and that means we must take all the more care on the consideration of such legislation. That said, the Bill has gone through all Stages in the Dáil.

During the discussions with the other parties, I was anxious to see that the position of the Seanad was fully safeguarded. I believe this particular procedure on this Bill shows the value of Seanad Éireann as an institution. While being a money Bill, the only function of the Seanad is, of course, to consider the Bill and submit recommendations to the other House, the existence of that power of recommendation creates a real revising capacity not otherwise available in the consideration of this legislation.

The only amendments taken in the other House were sponsored by the Government and clearly it is desirable to conduct a final check of a Bill like this, and that check is possible. That is why the Seanad is sitting on two days. It is sitting today, I understand, to deal with Second Stage and tomorrow it will take Committee and Report Stages. The Dáil can be reconvened, if necessary, on Saturday evening if any recommendations are required. I have done my best to ensure no recommendations will be required but I will yield to the ingenuity of the Seanad if it can devise a suitable recommendation.

The Bill embodies the various budgetary measures but it also contains other provisions, as finance Bills necessarily do. However, it does not include all the matters which would have been contained in the original Finance Bill. Indeed, the question of civil partnership, which was agitated here during the year as well, arose on the Finance Bill because the solemnisation of civil partnerships begins from 1 April this year and it would have been desirable to have had a finance Bill clarifying the tax status of these relationships in advance of that. Work was far advanced in my Department on preparing the necessary amendments which involved 150 statutory provisions to give effect to that. However, as it happens, it will not be possible in the limited time available to us to table those amendments and while I am sure some Senators will breathe a sigh of relief that the matter will not be freshly agitated in Seanad Éireann, it seems undesirable with the status now coming into force on 1 April and that those who contract accordingly do not have clarity about their tax status.