Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, and thank him for his outline. While I accept it is purely technical, I will make a couple of comments that do not necessarily reflect on the Minister of State. They are directed towards the Department.

I welcome that the joint committee is discussing this issue. While it is technical in nature, if the Government is to be realistic about the process of reform, where possible, it would be helpful if draft orders such as this one could be published sooner. I note the discussions on this issue have been ongoing for some time. It is largely a tidying-up exercise. My party does not have a major problem with it but I would prefer if it could be published sooner.

I note the order was laid before the House last week. That is fine. It should be laid before the House sooner than it needs to be signed. We are at 13 November and it needs to be signed tomorrow. I assume there will be something about it on the Order of Business in the Dáil today, following on from here. That is grand, but it is a little rushed. In this instance, it does not matter because it is technical. If it were a matter that provided for Members of the Oireachtas to have an opportunity to have their say, whether it be critical or supportive, it would not be available to us.

This is as a word of caution or a request to the Government to try to facilitate Parliament a little better in dealing with such statutory instruments. For far too long, successive Governments signed statutory instruments on the nod and we have seen problems arise in some cases. That would be my only concern, that we would try to have a process that meant we were not dealing with it at the 11th hour. Other than that, we will support the Government on it.