Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

I do not wish to go over the ground already covered by my colleagues other than to point out that the Minister's amendment should be more prescriptive, in line with what Fine Gael is trying to achieve in this regard. It is unlikely that our amendments will be accepted given the numbers in the House but some slight amendments to the Minister's amendment could be more effective. Amendment No. 127 states that "The Minister may issue guidelines ...". This should be changed to "The Minister will issue guidelines". There is no reason for using the word "may". It would also be worthwhile to insert the words "from time to time" so the Minister need not necessarily issue just one set of guidelines. Circumstances will change over-----

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