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

I move amendment No. 25:

In page 31, to delete lines 15 to 18 and substitute the following:“that counterclaim is made does not stand delegated to the Agency by virtue of an order under section 9(1) of the Act of 2000;”.

Amendments to Part 5 are to add clarity to the management of claims. Amendment No. 25 corrects the definition of "counterclaim". In the current version, section 31(1)(b) contradicts 31(1)(a) and, therefore, does not make any sense. Amendment No. 26 expands the meaning of costs to include bills in respect of a person who appears as an expert witness. Amendment No. 27 expands the management remit of the State Claims Agency, SCA, to include claims before an arbitrator, a mediator or a county registrar. Amendment No. 28 is being inserted to allow a relevant Minister flexibility, where appropriate, in defining the body as a State authority for the purposes of delegating the management of its claims to the SCA. This would allow a Minister to include such bodies as the Residential Institutions Redress Board or the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse within the remit of the section.
The current Part 5 amendments to the original legislation are required to expand the remit of the agency. The original Act is considered to be somewhat restrictive in its definition of claims to be handled as, for example, third-party legal costs could not be handled. It must be noted that the proposed Part 5 amendments would only provide for the power to delegate. Actual delegation would be effected by Government order at the request of the relevant member of the Government following enactment of the Bill. This is the mechanism in the existing SCA legislation and these Committee Stage amendments are being introduced to clarify aspects of the original text.