Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a fair question to ask. Why would the Department bring forward the general scheme of Bill and get it approved by the Cabinet when a Supreme Court case, which appears to be germane to this legislation, had yet to come? It is an issue I have for this committee. If we are doing pre-legislative scrutiny, we should be doing it in its totality. If we are doing pre-legislative scrutiny on a Bill that is fundamentally going to change when it comes to published legislation, it is not pre-legislative scrutiny in the round as far as I am concerned. I want to lay down that marker. It is hugely important. It is part of our role as a committee. Pre-legislative scrutiny was introduced so that committees would assist in the process of making legislation more robust. The general scheme of the legislation was approved in December by the Cabinet. If we are suddenly finding a situation where it is being said that the Zalewski Supreme Court case, which was decided five months earlier on 12 July 2021, may change what is published in the legislation, it is hard to see how we can be in a position to do proper pre-legislative scrutiny.

With regard to the legislation, the Department came to us about a waiver scheme because the Department said that the EU was looking for the legislation to be put in place. Where does that stand with the EU remit?