Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

It depends on what type of a day the question is put. I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. It is difficult to discover what is going on here unless one is dealing with consolidated legislation. I have repeatedly called for consolidated Acts because, as the Minister of State knows, he is not only referring to one piece of primary law, but, on the last count, a total of 18 pieces of legislation was also referred to. Senators would need to consult all of them to make sense of it.

The last time this legislation came before the House it received a good airing. I am pleased to see that some of the suggestions made by Opposition Senators and Deputies, in respect of these directives, have been taken into consideration by the Minister. By its very definition, there is a need to take one's time with a Bill that deals with transposing EU directives into domestic law. In that respect, this House is important in that it does not have the same time constraints as the Lower House, given the theatrical nature of the Dáil from time to time, including the party political posturing that takes place there. Having also had experience of the Lower House, I can say that this House lends itself to having the time in which to tease out such matters in greater detail.

Most of the Bill's provisions relate to EU directives. Over a consistent period, the great driver against discrimination in our society was not the State but the European Union. Various laws introduced in the European Parliament and the regulations devised by the EU Commission have provided equality for all our citizens. Therefore, when EU directives are to be transposed into Irish law we have an obligation to deal with them in a serious manner, as I am sure the Government does.

I commend the work that has been done on the Bill. It is good to see that the suggestions of so many Senators and Deputies concerning this legislation have been heeded by the Minister of State who has had time to reflect on them. That is the way in which we should be doing our legislative business. Other Ministers should follow the example of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dea, and his departmental colleagues in this respect. In particular, Ministers in the Department of Transport should take due cognisance of the length of time that is required to take legislation through the Houses.