Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The amendment proposes to delete section 4, which will remove the legislative basis for the Minister to make regulations on operational matters to enable the smooth functioning of the permit system and the facility required by the 2018 review with regard to migration policy to ensure the system remains fit for purpose. This was an ask in the review of 2018. The Minister would no longer have the power to make regulations on key operational matters, which would render the system inoperable. This is common in legislation. We believe certain functions are better off in regulations than in primary legislation. From the point of view of practical application by the departmental officials, it means they can do their job. It also means we can respond to the needs in any given year and make regulations as needs be to reflect them. These regulations can be rescinded by the Dáil within 21 days. I have given a commitment, and I do so again, to work with the committee on introducing regulations and to have conversations and agreement on bringing them forward.

I am not trying to do regulations and hide them away. This approach recognises that having everything detailed in primary legislation would make it very hard to do the job regardless of who is in Government or what Department is concerned. If there are regulations that members or the Dáil do not like, they can be rescinded. That is a feature of our law. It is not the case that regulations are never scrutinised. Regulations are generally subject to great scrutiny and public consultation. I am going beyond that in saying I am more than happy at any stage to discuss the regulations with this committee.