Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support the amendment. In line with good practice, the board will be accountable to the Minister and the chief executive will be accountable to the board, with corresponding lines of communication. In one section in the Bill this relationship is not clear and in another it is inconsistent.

On this basis, I recommend section 47(1) should be amended to clarify that the Minister may issue guidelines to the board of the agency as opposed to the current wording of “to the agency” which may imply the guidelines could be issued to the agency’s chief executive.

As Deputy Ó Caoláin said, this side of the House has been more than accommodating in bringing this legislation forward. We afforded the Minister additional time to bring forward her amendments. It might be time to give our amendments a little more consideration.