Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 12:

In page 17, lines 14 and 15, to delete “published and made available to any Oireachtas committee on request” and substitute “in writing”.

These are technical amendments which concern reporting requirements under the Bill. In the Seanad, I accepted an amendment to section 17 which would provide that an Oireachtas committee could request that the Minister furnish it with a copy of a data-sharing agreement made under this legislation. It is a good initiative as it allows the Houses of the Oireachtas as well as members of the public to have a say in any data-sharing agreement that will be published. Accepting this amendment had the unintended consequence of removing the original requirement under section 17 that the data-sharing agreements be made in writing. Therefore the purpose of the amendment is to reinstate the original wording that provides for this.

The provision to provide data-sharing agreements to an Oireachtas committee is better placed in section 60 which covers the Minister's obligation to publish all data-sharing agreements and lay them before the Houses of the Oireachtas. This is provided for in amendment No. 26. The expectation is that Members of the Oireachtas would also be able to make submissions during the consultation. As was pointed out in the Seanad, it is the norm in any legislation concerning submission of information to committees to exclude the Committees on Members' Interests, and the amendment provides for that.

On amendment No. 24, I accepted several amendments to section 52 regarding the Minister's reporting obligations under the Bill in the Seanad. This is technical in nature to improve the section's clarity and readability. Therefore I ask the committee to approve the amendments.