I refer to the Freedom of Information Bill and the programme for Government commitments on legislation. Under the changes to Standing Orders rammed through by the Government recently, allowance was made for a pre-consultation phase for all legislation to allow non-governmental organisations and others with an interest to be consulted on key legislation. Last weekend the Minister tabled a series of amendments to the Freedom of Information Bill. They are quite profound and substantially change the shape, nature and objective of the Bill in so far as it will reduce utilisation of the freedom of information framework. There was no pre-consultation phase on those amendments. The committee tried to adjourn the taking of Committee Stage yesterday with a view to facilitating academics, media representatives and representatives of non-governmental organisations to put to the committee their views on the changes the Minister introduced regarding multiple charges for multiple issues. While I do not agree with his proposal, I am talking about the procedure here.

I thank the Deputy.

Will the Taoiseach change the order to enable that consultation process to take place in advance of the Bill being brought to a conclusion? The amendments have been introduced very sneakily late in the day, without any consultation with anybody and without any analysis of the impact on the overall shape of the legislation.

I thank the Deputy.

Earlier the Taoiseach was negative about experts and so on, but Transparency International, Open Access Europe and Open Knowledge Foundation Ireland are all vehemently opposed to this series of amendments that the Minister sneakily introduced late in the day. I ask the Taoiseach to change the order to allow consultation to take place in the spirit of the changes to Standing Orders that were rammed through the House.

Which order?

The Freedom of Information Bill.

I do not disagree with every expert. I was making the point to Deputy Donnelly that we have experts on everything available, nationally and internationally.

The changes to the Standing Orders represent a genuine attempt to ensure Bills that come before the Government at heads of Bill stage would move to the committees for that consultation process. We are trying to make that the norm. It will become the norm from January and we want to move to that phase now. For Bills that have not been cleared or published, we hope that becomes the practice for every Minister. Once the heads of a Bill are cleared at Cabinet, they go to committee for consultation.

This Bill was published in July and it is moving through the different Stages. Every time a Bill comes before Cabinet, we expect the Minister at heads stage to propose that it goes to the committee if it wishes to have consultations about it. That will become the normal practice from January in any event. It is for Bills that are not published yet and which will move to that stage as normal practice.

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. Does he not accept that the concept of pre-consultation will be fatally undermined if substantive amendments emerge very late in the day which are contrary to anything advocated in advance and at the time of the publication of the Bill? This has happened very late in the day and even in the aftermath of the Second Stage debate.

We cannot have a debate about it on the Order of Business.

What has happened here is that Sir Humphrey has scored a very late penalty, and has scored it well.

Sir Humphrey is alive and over there.

We do not need assistance from the back.

Sir Humphrey put the ball wide. The Freedom of Information Bill has been around for a long time. The changes introduced ten years ago were pretty radical and it has been moving through since then. This Bill was published in July. I am pointing out that we want it to become the norm based on the change to Standing Orders for every Minister, once they receive clearance for heads of Bill at Cabinet level, to send that Bill to the committee for consultations. If the committee chairman thinks that is appropriate, that is fine. That will become normal practice from January.