Alex White (Labour)

There is a great deal of merit in what Senator Cannon said, and I support him on it. I want to note my formal opposition to section 2 but what Senator Cannon is proposing by way of his recommendation has enormous merit.

I was curious to hear one aspect of the Minister's response. He said it was a function of the fact that the Opposition parties and others were insisting on the Finance Bill being dealt with by this weekend. The Minister could spend all day telling us about what he would have done if he had more time. As I understood his remarks he said he was sorry he did not have an opportunity in this Bill to introduce wholesale reforms of the treatment of pensions and so on in regard to the tax code. I am sure there are many things the Minister would have liked to have done but he cannot visit that on the parties in the Seanad or the Dáil for wanting to see this legislation through and then say there are ten, 15 or 20 things he would have liked to have done. They are not in the Bill. The budget was in December. The Bill was published on 20 January. None of the decisions on truncating the debate were made before 20 January. In terms of anything the Minister wanted to do in the Finance Bill, he had every opportunity to put them into the Bill but they are not in the Bill of 20 January, which is when it was published.