Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The point we are trying to make is that it should be set out in the legislation.

For quite a long Bill, it has only eight short sections on ministerial guidelines, which is a relatively small amount of text. They do not flesh the consultation process and what engagement should and must be done. The level of discretion the Bill leaves is the issue I am raising. I would be more than happy, for example, if the text of the amendment was changed to refer to "any material amendment". This would address the issue of typos and so on, which the Minister of State raised. That could easily be done. The guidelines in the Bill on what the Minister does and the process around that are fluid. The text does not specify processes for consultation at the beginning of the process. The legislation would benefit from having those in it.