Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support that and I agree with the points Deputy Paul Murphy has made. As I said on Second Stage, it is not the best way to do this. I am not sure why primary legislation was not drafted to deal with this but we are where we are and it needs to be introduced. There is a gap. I thank the Minister of State for the note on this. I have questions as to the advice the Minister received in relation to the transposition by way of statutory instrument to deal with this issue. Was it legal advice from the Attorney General? How did it materialise that this could not happen that way putting us, therefore, up against this deadline? I have raised concerns about important legislation, including the implementation of the mortgage credit directive by way of statutory instrument, which in my view warranted a full discussion. I am interested to know how decisions are made as to whether to draft a statutory instrument or a Bill. This is a bit of a mess. Some advice was given that was wrong. While I appreciate that we all make mistakes, we think that this is the way to do it. There is a mistake here which has forced us to put two pieces of unrelated legislation together. In the meantime, the penalties are at the lower level. Can the Minister of State tell the committee if any case is pending which might sneak in under the period where the penalties have reverted to the older, lesser ones?