Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am not 100% sure that I understand entirely what is being advocated in respect of an order to be made to add an institution. There is at this time no proposal to add an institution; therefore, no regulations are contemplated, as I understand it, to add a hospital. Is the Deputy proposing an amendment to section 3 to provide that were the Minister to propose to add an institution, the regulations should be brought before the Houses? Is the Deputy proposing that the adding of one or two institutions be the subject of a debate in the Houses? As that is one issue I have not discussed with the Minister, I am on somewhat of a limb. My personal view is that it would be excessive, given that if the Minister were to issue an order, it would be laid before the Houses for a period of three weeks and if somebody had an objection to it, he or she could say a particular hospital should not be added to the list. That is what we are talking about.

Let me make one general point as Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív spoke generally about committees and legislation. We are talking about statutory instruments. Without being political at this late hour, the Government has initiated serious reforms in the scrutiny of legislation; in fact, this legislation has been the subject of considerable pre-legislative scrutiny at the committee. When I was Chairman of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, we also did that in respect of various legislative items. That is already happening and is a very good advance. However, if all statutory instruments were to be the subject of pre-legislative scrutiny in committees, it would be an enormous additional volume of work for them.