Vol. 3 No. 12
In accordance with Standing Order 79B the following message will be sent by the Clerk to the Clerk of the Dáil:
The Select Committee on Enterprise and Small Business has completed its consideration of the National Minimum Wage Bill, 2000, and has made amendments thereto.
Is the report agreed?
Report agreed to.
Ordered to report to the Dáil accordingly.
That concludes the business of this meeting. I thank all Deputies who participated on Committee Stage by tabling amendments and teasing out the relevant sections of the Bill. I acknowledge their input which resulted in a number of amendments being made, and I wish to pay tribute to everyone who contributed. I also wish to thank the Minister and her officials who participated in the debate and who demonstrated great flexibility in acknowledging the amendments that were accepted.
On behalf of my officials, I wish to thank you, Chairman, and the members of the Select Committee for facilitating the passage of this legislation. I also wish to thank the Clerk to the Select Committee and the staff for their courtesy and assistance.
Before we adjourn, I would draw the committee's attention to the days that are available to deal with the copyright Bill - Tuesday, 28 March and Wednesday, 29 March. The hours currently available for provisionally booking a committee room are from 2 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. on both days. I suggest that we tentatively book those times and ask the Whips to make the necessary arrangements after sounding out members' views.
We will have to think about that Chairman.
We are talking about Thursday as well.
Are you talking about next Tuesday, Chairman?
Yes.
I am taking Report Stage of the National Minimum Wage Bill, next Tuesday.
These are the times during which the rooms are available. I am not dealing with any other consideration, although I appreciate the Minister may be dealing with Report Stage. The Minister of State, Deputy Tom Kitt, has indicated that he is available and the room is also available. I appreciate that the same Opposition personnel are involved but the times that are currently available are 2 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Thursday morning from 10 p.m. to 1.30 p.m. If people have any views as to whether or not those times are suitable they should contact me, the Clerk or the Whips as soon as possible so that we can make the necessary arrangements.
I thank the Minister for her readiness to accept amendments. I also thank the Opposition spokespersons for their forbearance.
Thanks to one and all. We have done a very good day's work on the National Minimum Wage Bill from which over 163,000 people will hopefully benefit.
