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

I move amendment No. 34:

In page 10, line 9, to delete “having regard to all the circumstances of the case, including” and substitute “where there is”.

My amendment seeks to provide that the only reason a licence can be revoked is for non-compliance. It seems the Minister is giving himself a lot of power. The phrase, "all the circumstances of the case" is very wide. The Minister of State's amendment No. 35 reads:

but a revocation of a licence or of another foregoing matter shall not take place unless the Minister is satisfied that—
(i) there are substantial grounds warranting that course of action, and
(ii) the exercise of none of the other powers under this subsection would remedy the matter”.

I still consider that to be way too loose because it is still not saying that the person has to be in breach of the licence before it can be revoked. I believe it should not be revocable or be suspended unless one is in breach of the licence. Otherwise the licence is an uncertainty and therefore anyone funding a person with a licence will not know from day to day whether a licence will remain in force or not.