Before proceeding, I understand that the Minister for Finance in his opening remarks in respect of his contribution on Amendment No. 1 adverted to the fact that in his opinion the Chair had allowed a new practice to develop by allowing a new amendment on Report Stage which had not been discussed on Committee Stage and that he and his officials could not find any relevant ruling which would allow such an amendment.
While I would not normally comment on my rulings in the House, and certainly in respect of this matter, I feel I have to put on the record the following: When an allocation of time motion is in operation on amendment not reached, that is not discussed, can be retabled for Report Stage. In that regard, for an amendment to be in order for Report Stage, the point of substance or principle has to be before the Committee. In this case the tax amnesty was before the Committee and not reached because of an allocation of time motion. Therefore, the amendment by Deputy Cox related to the same subject matter and was in order.
