Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The effect of this amendment would be require the agency in its NDFA function to comply with directions and orders issued by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in addition to guidelines issued by the Minister. In this section and the following section, section 27, a verbal distinction is made between guidelines and instructions, which are issued by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to the NDFA under section 26 and policy directions which are issued by the Minister to State authorities under section 27.

As for having the agency comply with orders, the word “order” is used in a particular way in this Part. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform prescribes State authorities by order. The amendment would not add anything to the Bill. Therefore, we are not accepting it.