Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 53:

In page 26, subsection (3), line 23, after “House” to insert the following:
“having been discussed by the relevant Committee of the House”.

The purpose of my amendment is to ensure that now that we have good and effective Oireachtas committees no regulations are signed by a Minister without first being discussed by a committee. If we examined secondary legislation it would avoid a lot of the gremlins that arise. An announcement is made but nobody sees it going through the Dáil and its passed. Then unintended consequences arise. My amendment would provide a good protection for future Ministers. As with EU legislation, we should scrutinise all regulations here before they are signed by a Minister. A committee may scrutinise regulation but it does not give it the power to overrule a Minister. It does ensure that he or she hears the wisdom of the committee and takes it into account before signing off.