Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The proposed amendment essentially changes the thrust of the provision in the Bill from the Minister having the power to issue directions or guidelines to the commission concerning the preparation of the work programme, with which the commission must imply, to a provision which sees the Minister requesting the commission to consider any guidelines the Minister issues, which the commission may consider.

The provision in the Bill is a fairly standard one and has analogous provisions in both the Competition Act 2002 and the Consumer Protection Act 2007. The proposed amendment from Deputy Calleary appears to weaken the powers of the Minister in respect of the preparation of the commission's work programme. However, its drafting appears to be consistent with the proposed amendment from Deputy Calleary in respect of section 18, in that it removes any power of the Minister to issue directions. In that context, consistency with the approach on the latter proposal would see a rejection of this proposal for section 28.

The provision is about the commission drawing up its work programme. The Minister is entitled to set things such as key performance indicators, ask for advocacy reports to be drawn up or consumer issues to be addressed that are of public concern. The Minister does not have power in respect of its statutory duties to investigate and so on because it operates entirely independently. It is reasonable for the Minister to have powers that require compliance of a more broad brush. It does not seek in any way to trample on the commission's independence in its core work.