Enda Kenny
Question:80 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Education and Science the budget and staffing resources he set out in the financial memorandum which accompanied the presentation of the Education (Welfare) Bill, 1999. [25216/99]
Written Answers. - Education (Welfare) Bill.
In requesting Government approval for the publication of the Education (Welfare) Bill, 1999, I did not set out in any detail the resources that would be required. In my view it would have been premature to decide on those matters in detail before the precise legislative scheme as passed by the Oireachtas was known.
The enactment of the Education (Welfare) Bill is now at an advanced stage and I expect that it will be enacted early next year. Thereafter I propose to implement the enacted Bill in a phased, planned way as soon as practicable. To facilitate the implementation of the Bill next year the recently published estimate for my Department contained a sum of £250,000.