Ms Rosemary Hennigan:

It is our understanding that the fact that the Bill has come this far means it has been taken for granted that it is not an appropriation of revenue or public expenditure in that sense. That leaves a question mark over whether there is an incidental expense, as Standing Order 179 also refers to “including incidental expenses”. Incidentally, this wording is not used in Article 17.2. Standing Order 179 does not explain what “incidental expenses” could mean. Taking one view, it could mean anything, for example, recruiting an extra member of staff or setting up a large agency to oversee a new point of law. Nothing in this Bill suggests this should be done. We anticipate a minor and modest increase in the number of applications. In light of the point made about the elasticity of the public service, such matters would normally be subsumed into the work of a Department in any case. The Department of Justice and Equality will not be allocated an additional amount of money to cover this work. Were that to happen, it would occur in a future budget, which would be the preserve of the Government. In that sense, any possible incidental expense would be minor. We could not quantify it because we are not the State but we imagine it would be minor.