Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

When I received notice of this morning's meeting, I asked that the date be changed because, as I have indicated, Tuesday mornings are not convenient for me. I was the only member who had tabled amendments. Clearly, the poor attendance is an indication that Tuesday mornings are not convenient. I would indicate to the clerk that I am not in a position to attend committee meetings on a Tuesday morning for the reason that a meeting of the Technical Group coincides with such meetings. As I am the Whip for the Technical Group, it is particularly difficult for me to attend. I am unhappy at the lack of attendance and also that the meeting has been arranged at a time that does not suit members.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Fergus O'Dowd, and his officials. It is worth pointing out that we have no history of being good at institutional building. In fact, we have a litany of organisations and institutions that have been almost tweaked following independence and others that have been created that have been pretty disastrous. The HSE is probably the prime example. We are not particularly good at building new institutions. My experience of the Environmental Protection Agency is mixed. Some of the desktop material is often good and is useful, but when it comes to things happening on the ground, I have had poor experiences with the EPA. This is one of the areas in which the EPA needs to be particularly good. We will not know if the assurances the Minister of State has given us that everything will be fine will be the case. I hope we never know if it is dysfunctional because, if so, the merger of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland with the Environmental Protection Agency could have very serious consequences.

Mergers are particularly difficult in that one is often merging two different cultures as well as the staff of organisations. One could not classify this as a merger, rather it is an incorporation of the RPII into the EPA. A function of the EPA is about protecting the environment, often from the impact of people, whereas the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland is very much about protecting the public from the harmful effects of radiation, radon gas and so on. Therefore, it has a different focus. Giving it legislative protection or maintaining some level of independence would have been the very least I would have expected. I would also have thought the naming of the organisation would have been important. Essentially, the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland is being dissolved and incorporated into the EPA. Arising from the analysis conducted a couple of years ago on the proposed merger, it did not appear there was any great advantage in doing this, even from the point of view of funding. Perhaps the Minister of State will respond in respect of the advantages other than saying there are fewer quangos, which is very much a throwaway comment. We have to look at individual organisations and see what their function should be.

The Bill allows Ireland to ratify the 2005 amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, to which Ireland is a party, to include the words "and Nuclear Facilities".

It appears that not all aspects of the RPII are transferred to the EPA. My argument is that in terms of coherent legislation, this should have been stand-alone legislation. I will go through the aspects that have been omitted later.

Even where there is good legislation and it would work in theory, often there can be problems in practice. Mixing two cultures in terms of a merged organisation is one matter. The staff complement can be another. I wonder whether this will be looked at as a cost-saving exercise, whether there be the ability to increase the staffing and whether there will be sufficient staff to deal with the merged functions. Some organisations have lost staff through embargoes. There are gaps in that regard and filling those gaps is obviously an issue. Those are the opening points that I would want to make.

Unfortunately, I am watching the clock. I am sure the Minister of State is watching the clock as well. I do not want to dwell further on opening comments.