Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have a concern. The wording the Minister seeks to amend includes, importantly, under section 16G(4), "...the functions of the Director General referred to in subsection (1) may be performed, for such period not exceeding 6 months". The amendment and the Minister's comments make no reference to that important point. It is not included for no good reason. The Minister is seeking to delete this but he did not refer to this in his commentary and it is not addressed in the substitute subsection, which states, "may be performed by such appointed director as may be designated by the Director General from time to time, with the consent of the Minister". The DG might not be in a position to do so from time to time. This is a loose and open provision. We have had all sorts of time-related concerns in public life in recent years and I thought that was a particular protection that the Minister had presented initially because he was time constraining this provision. It was not open and the position could not be abused or carried on indefinitely. He needs to clarify and explain why he is taking away this important requirement.