Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The list of reforms is interesting, in that reform has been talked about for a long time in this House. I am interested in the actual success of the Private Members' Bills, many of which do not appear to get as far as they should. Senator Crown pointed out yesterday that his Bill to ban smoking in cars in which children are present has been waiting for two years. I acknowledge that the Leader gave assurances yesterday in this regard, but this two-year wait should be contrasted with the four weeks it took for a similar measure to go through the British House of Commons and House of Lords. This is happening for no other reason than that civil servants are not processing the legislation or bringing forward the amendments on which all sides are agreed. Despite this, it is clogged up.