Like the other speakers today, I appreciate that it is a huge technical challenge to try to put together the overall meaning behind each section of the Bill because, by its very nature, it is a miscellaneous Bill. The Minister has the benefit of his own advisers in the Department and the expertise of the Department of justice, but no doubt as a former Opposition spokesperson on justice he has sympathy with the rest of us who have to have to try to put it together.

Sentiment score: 0.75

The one thing I would say is that we were all here at a previous Stage and, notwithstanding changes that have been made, very significant elements of this Bill were already before us, as complex as they were then and as they are now. I look forward to speaking on some of the 72 amendments that have been tabled. Let us not fool ourselves: the reason there is pressure to get this Bill through is not because the Minister wants to get it through, but because many of the issues it covers are things that are being called for by members of the public and groups that have worked very hard and campaigned on them. I acknowledge the work of Deputy Nash on historical convictions. In this House we often wonder whether we achieve anything at all and maybe on days like this people like him can take note that the work he undertook has reached completion. It is for that very reason I say that sometimes facilitating Bills in this way is really important because it is about getting stuff across the line as well. I take on board comments made by members of the Opposition. I had that issue in the last phase of this Bill. I have done a little bit of homework since, however. There is a lot in this Bill that is to be commended. There is one significant area I have been waiting on for some time and that is the work of the Apartment Owners' Network under the guidance of Pat Montague, which has been seeking the transfer of responsibility for multi-unit developments and the legislation and regulation of that over to the Department of housing. That is incredibly important. We are about to pour millions of euro into an apartment defect scheme. The people with responsibility for spending and delivering that are private entities and private limited companies in the form of owners' management companies. We need to have a way to make sure we regulate those companies, and we cannot do that while the responsibility sits with the Department of justice and has to be transferred over to the Housing Agency. That is one of the many things this Bill does and we are waiting desperately for it to happen. I understand the concerns raised by the Opposition, but I underline the point that the provisions in this Bill are needed and required. That is why I am glad to see them before the House and to see they will be enacted.

Sentiment score: 0.13