David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 25:

In page 38, to delete lines 20 to 23 and substitute the following: “ “Incident management system” means a system established for the purpose of the reporting, of an adverse incident which may be prescribed from time to time by the Minister in accordance with section 52.”.

I was seeking to assist the Minister by tabling these amendments. It will change the definition of "incident management system". HIQA has flagged with us, and I am sure also with the Minister, that it has concerns about the national incident management system, NIMS. We may well have to change the system, and I believe we will. The amendments will mean that, if that is the case, we will not need to amend the Act. Rather, it will be able to be done by way of a regulation brought in by the Minister, as opposed to an amendment to the Act itself. It is better from the point of view of the legislative process to give the Minister that flexibility in order that if there is a change in the type of management system that is in place and if NIMS is to be changed or replaced, the logic of this group of amendments will mean that can be done by way of regulation, rather than require an amendment of the Act, which would not be a good use of our time.