Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Of course it does, and that is the problem. I am glad we are starting to acknowledge issues. I am not saying the agency - which is not NewERA - can sell all of this. Of course it cannot, and we are not making that argument. That is not what the amendment concerns. It is concerned with the fact that a Minister can direct the agency to privatise or sell its shares in one of these designated bodies without the prior consent of the Houses of the Oireachtas. As a Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd may think the Minister should be able to do whatever he or she wants without prior approval. Two of these amendments would stipulate that prior approval must be sought.