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

The committee would be informed what information was proposed in the statutory instrument and that would then delimit what would be in the form. When I was a Minister, I came to the conclusion that draft statutory instruments should be brought into the House for debate. I put that into operation, although it was not a statutory obligation at the time, but I regretted that I did not made it a statutory obligation. I found doing that very useful and found that I got a better statutory instrument at the end than I would have if I had just taken the statutory instrument through without debate. I was told and advised at the time that I was creating extra difficulty for myself and putting extra pressure on staff and so on, but I still believe that if we are serious about legislation - and statutory instruments are secondary legislation - the more we involve the House, the less controversy we will have in the long term. I believe this is a case in which the Minister could accept the amendment, but, like so many things here, it is a case of more hurry, less speed. In the end of the day, the row starts after the statutory instrument is signed. We then have a big row about it, but it could all have been resolved if we just chose a date, got its view of the committee and then put it through.