Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for their good wishes. I started off in this House and it is always good to return.
Let me commence by saying that the Bill was primarily developed by previous Ministers, particularly the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, and I compliment them on their good work. As Senator Walsh will know, I always accept good ideas and always will, but no one has a monopoly on them. However, I do not propose to accept his amendment. In doing so I want to again stress to the House that this legislation should not in any way be interpreted as a reduction in the Government's commitment to radiological protection.
First, none of the professional expertise of the RPII will be lost in the course of its merger with the EPA. All of the staff with specialist radiological protection qualifications, skills and competencies will become full-time permanent staff of the EPA. The current chief executive officer of the RPII will become a director of the newly merged organisation for a period up to 30 April 2016 to allow for a smooth transition. At that point the fifth director position will be filled in the normal manner. Of course it will be open to the former CEO of the RPII to apply for the position. He or she will also have the option to stay on in the organisation as a senior principal scientific officer after 30April 2016.
The Bill makes a number of other amendments to the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 to ensure that the EPA has the necessary powers and functions to meet its new statutory duties regarding radiological protection. As I have mentioned, it provides that a fifth director be appointed to the agency, at section 21. It goes on to provide, at section 22, that the statutory selection committee for directors will include a person with radiological expertise, appointed by the Minister. Section 23 amends section 24 of the EPA Act to state:

[W]hen selecting candidates, the committee shall have regard to the special knowledge and experience, including experience in environmental matters or radiological protection matters, including such qualifications as the Minister may by order specify.

Thus, radiological protection experience will be a key consideration when selecting future directors, as appropriate, and the Minister has the power to specify qualifications required for a particular directorial post. Sections 25 and 26 of the Bill make amendments that provide for radiological protection expertise to be included on the EPA's statutory advisory committee and the committee can provide advice on such matters to the EPA. It is also intended to set up a separate specialist advisory committee focussed entirely on radiological protection by statutory instrument that will provide advice to the EPA and the main advisory committee as required.
Taking all of this into account, there is adequate provision in the legislation to ensure that radiological protection becomes, and will remain, a core function of the EPA. I am reluctant to incorporate an amendment that would seek to legislatively prescribe the divisional organisation of the EPA, or to confer, as this amendment undoubtedly would, one of the offices with a more pre-eminent or differentiated status. Accordingly, I do not accept the amendment. There is a difficulty with this proposed amendment arising from the use of the words "executive officer". As there is no definition of the position of executive officer provided for in the Environmental Protection Agency Act, the proposed amendment lacks, prima facie, the necessary legal clarity. This situation is complicated by the fact that there are civil and public service grades that have the formal title "executive officer" and, without a definition of what is meant by this in the Bill, it will not be sufficiently clear what "executive officer" means in this context given the phraseology of the amendment.
Notwithstanding this, the Bill as currently drafted provides for the appointment of a fifth director who will manage the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland. It will be the function of the director general of the newly-merged organisation to arrange the distribution of the business of the agency among its directors and this will be done having regard to the statutory functions and requirements of the organisation. The director in charge of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland will be a full director of the EPA. There is nothing in the proposed amendment that would improve the quality or standard of radiological protection provided by the newly-merged organisation. I do not propose to accept the amendment.