Amendment No. 42 in the name of Deputy Smith. Amendment No. 43 is related and both may be taken together, by agreement.
SECTION 13.
I move amendment No. 42:
In page 12, line 33, to delete ", is hereby repealed" and substitute "shall be construed as one with this Act and may be cited together with this Act as the Dumping at Sea Acts, 1981 to 1995".
We had this argument in the beginning, so I will not bore the committee with it again.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Section 13 agreed to.
SECTION 14.
Amendment No. 43 not moved.
I move amendment No. 44:
In page 12, lines 35 to 39, to delete subsection (2).
The Attorney General's Office recommends that as the entire Act will become law on signature by the President, there is no need for a commencement order and section 14 (2) should therefore be deleted.
Do all the provisions of the Bill come into effect simultaneously?
The Bill comes into force on the signature of the President.
Amendment agreed to.
Section 14, as amended, agreed to.
First and Second Schedules agreed to.
Title agreed to.
Report of Select Committee.
I propose the following draft report:
The select committee has considered the Bill and has made amendments thereto. The Bill, as amended, is reported to the Dáil.
Is that agreed?
Report agreed to.
Ordered to Report to the Dáil accordingly.
I thank the Minister and his officials for the way in which they dealt with the briefing and the manner in which the Minister presented the Bill. I thank the spokespersons and colleagues both from Government and Opposition parties. I thank our colleague who stood in at very short notice for the clerk to the committee, who I understand has a cold. I hope she makes a speedy recovery. I thank the staff of the House for their co-operation.
I thank you, Sir, and your staff for dealing with the Bill so expeditiously. I thank all members of the committee, particularly Deputy Smith and Deputy Keogh, who tabled amendments, for their co-operation in putting the Bill through Committee. It is valuable legislation and is not contested by anybody in the House.
I wish to thank the staff. You, Sir, tend to exercise a type of psychological pressure which pushes business through quite expeditiously. It is one of your many different strengths, not least helped by the fact that this is Christmas time. We appreciate the efforts the Minister has made to meet some of our fears. The Bill is not contested. This is essential legislation which will do a number of important things. I wish everyone a happy Christmas.
I thank you for your cooperation. I was most anxious that we would not have to work on Christmas Eve. We have avoided that now. We will have our final meeting next week on the Competition Bill and hopefully we will have the same co-operation from everybody.
The Select Committee adjourned at 11.20 a.m.