asked the Minister for Justice if he will introduce legislation to give effect to the Pringle Report on free legal aid in civil cases.

The examination of the Pringle Report is at a very advanced stage and I hope to be able to announce Government decisions on it in the near future.

Is the Minister in a position to say whether the scheme he envisages will cover the whole area of civil law or whether it will be confined to certain aspects of it?

I am not in a position to answer the Deputy's question further and I will not be until such time as the Government's decision on the business is made public.

Does the Minister envisage introducing legislation relating to this in the current session?

I hope to be able to announce the Government's decision on —perhaps legislation may not be necessary—in the near future.

Can the Minister quantify in terms of days, weeks, months or years what "in the near future" means?

That is the second time I have been asked that question in recent times. I would be very pleased if I could have it this session and I hope to have it during the session.

Will the Minister make a commitment to have a decision on the matter before Christmas?

As the matter is one for Government decision, I cannot go any further than I have gone. It is my intention to try to have it before Christmas.

I should like to point out to Deputies, and the Minister, that we must have brief questions and replies if we are to make any progress at Question Time.

As a Deputy who asks supplementary questions, I should like to point out that if we got more succinct and detailed replies in the first instance there would not be the necessity to try to prod out the information.

The records of the House show that many questions were answered during the period of the last Government, even by the Taoiseach, with the words "no" and "yes".

And sometimes it is an appropriate answer.

I accept that but on occasions we only got a nod of the head for "yes".

The point made by Deputy Quinn is a good one because the Minister has been replying to supplementaries at great length but not replying to the original question. Surely that is a misuse of the time of the House?