Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

At the informal briefing two issues arose. There were concerns that the timeline of the new process, at its very longest, could be excessively long. The Minister said he would look at it to see if there was some way of shortening it. In terms of the amendments tabled here, is it the view of the Minister that those amendments assist us in any way or provide for those concerns? There was also a concern around the new role of the decision-maker and whether it would lengthen the time required to make a decision. A suggestion made by a number of members was that decisions on sanctions below a certain amount could be made by the chief executive rather than the decision-maker, or that the decision-maker could make sanctions of a higher order.

Amendment No. 136, which I tabled, contains a drafting error. I must have had some help from Deputy Darragh O'Brien on that one. I did not intend to remove the right to appeal to the court, rather I wanted to remove the court confirmation. I will withdraw the amendment, but I will return the amendment at a later stage on the matter of the court confirmation. I still hold the view I held at our previous discussion, which is that court confirmation adds a cost and unnecessary delay. The right to appeal to the court is sufficient, and we will return to that matter on Report Stage.