Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

May I explain? As Senators are aware it is a complex Bill. Obviously at this point in the development of the Bill we are taking a legal overview of it as a whole. It is primarily technical fixes, given the changes to various sections. As the Senators will see when they go through the amendments, many are grouped which are about technical changes. There is a mix of simple corrections to the layout of the Bill and a series of amendments which we have just introduced at this Stage to the Solicitors Acts. There is quite a number of those which are being inserted. When those are inserted consequent changes are necessary in regard to references. There is also a series of amendments, for example, where we use the phase "practising barrister" as opposed to "barrister" which go through the Bill. There are changes like that which account in large part for the number of amendments.

The original Bill, effectively, was a framework only. A large volume of amendments was always going to be necessary. In terms of policy, as we go through the amendments, if there is a new insertion I will point to that. We are starting off with a new section which I think all Senators will support which is the insertion of pre-action protocols. That is the major issue I am introducing today. Many of the other changes have to do with the rearrangement of the Bill due to the insertion of the new sections and the subsequent changing of numbers. When I say technical I mean literally minor changes to the text as opposed to any substantive change. I ask for the support of Senators to begin to go through this very important Bill which is far-reaching and which, for the first time, sets out independent regulation of the legal profession. We want to move ahead with that.

I appreciate there is much to the Bill. We have new procedures, which we discussed last week, for powers of inspection in terms of discipline and complaints being dealt with by an independent body and the establishment of legal partnerships in the first year of the operation. I have also accepted a number of amendments which came forward here last week, to which I will allude, as I go through some of those suggested by Senator Barrett. I am open to discuss a number of amendments which I will be accepting. I seek the support of Senators to move ahead with the Bill and proceed to the detailed discussion.