On behalf of this side of the House I thank the Minister for his personal involvement because, apart from a brief periods, he took the Bill himself. We all appreciate the burden of work on Cabinet Ministers and our thanks go to him and to his wide range of advisory staff who were constantly present.
There is increasing frustration in the Seanad in relation to legislation where we cannot effect change. There is a feeling in relation to the Finance Bill, given the time constraints of having it signed into law — we had another example of this last week on the Local Government Bill — that there is a level of rubber stamping involved. We have interesting discussions on different sections, the Minister is helpful with his replies, certain points can be clarified, others are not but, effectively, no recommendations are ever accepted on the Finance Bill in the Seanad. Given the ideal role of this House we should be able to effect real change and await the day we can do that with legislation as important as the Finance Bill.