Earlier, in reply to my party leader, the Taoiseach said the reason much of the legislation has been stalled is because of the potential cost to the Exchequer. We know that some of the Government's own legislation and, indeed, legislation that was published during the lifetime of the previous Government, has been stalled. I am talking, in particular, about the Technological Universities Bill. When we ask a question in respect of this Bill, the Taoiseach portrays it as being the committee's fault that it is not progressing. However, the fault is with the Minister because consensus cannot be found in the context of how this legislation will progress. The continuous delay of over 18 months is preventing the many institutes of technology which meet the criteria that have been set down being upgraded to technical university status. When will we finally see movement from the Department to the committee so this critical legislation can be debated and enacted, and the institute of technology sector is rewarded for the good work it is doing by being promoted to university status?

I thank Deputy Troy. The Deputy has gone beyond my words. What I said was that there are 140 Private Members' Bills on the list at the moment which were brought forward by Deputies from all parties. Many of those Bills have to be amended very extensively by the relevant Minister or Department involved.

The Taoiseach should deal with the Bill raised by Deputy Troy.

It is not the actual cost that is stalling these Bills, rather it is the requirement to introduce amendments in order to make them compatible with what is legislatively acceptable. If they were to go through, a cost would accrue and would be taken from the Vote of each individual Department. I have read out the constitutional piece for Deputy Micheál Martin in that regard.

The Taoiseach is playing down the clock.

We might as well not bother.

In respect of the Technological Universities Bill, I will ask the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton, to deal with this as it is not he who is holding it up. He will explain why to the Deputy.

I thank Deputy Troy for raising this issue. This is very important legislation because, as he knows, we want to underpin regional development by creating consolidated technological universities which have the breadth and strength to build and drive regional development. There have been problems but I am glad to report that we have entered into discussions with the TUI and that discussions are taking place in order to create a framework for working out some of the details that have caused a particular problem for that union. Clearly, we need to progress that. As the Deputy knows, on the previous occasion it was around such issues that it failed.

The Minister did not push it politically.

We also want to ensure that, as we develop the proposals, each of the regions have concepts that can be driven forward. There is no unnecessary delay but it has been difficult and there is no point in proceeding with it until-----

When will it be back before the House?

As the Deputy rightly said, we need a level of consensus to implement this Bill.

The TUI is stronger than the Dáil.