Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister's commitment to engage with the Law Society and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on this issue. There is no doubt about the independence of the new body because when it is finalised the legislation will enshrine it clearly in the public eye. The Minister knows better than most the issues the staff in the new authority will deal with are complex matters and will require people of considerable expertise from the get go. A request, yet to be acceded to, is that on the day the new regulatory authority commences it will take all cases, ongoing and new, so there would be a fresh start and not two parallel processes running simultaneously. I share the hope we will have a fresh start with a new regulatory authority with all cases coming under its umbrella.

The concern, to which the Minister alluded, is there would be a temptation to transfer civil servants to the new authority, but with all due respect it would be very difficult to find the range of staff required. It may solve a numbers exercise in the overall public service and it may be tempting for the Minister, Deputy Howlin, to do so, but it would not be a good outcome for the public in terms of resolving matters. We want this regulatory authority to be a fresh start and to win the hearts and minds of the public from the get go. We want it to have capacity and capability. The Minister knows the staff already working in the field would make a huge contribution to making this happen, rather than transferring people for a numbers exercise from other Departments.

I appreciate the Minister's commitment. I accept the amendment I tabled is not world class and does not achieve what I want, but I wanted to have a discussion on this matter today. Another amendment was ruled out of order-----