Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair. I will not repeat my opening statement from last week in full. I will say to the committee and the witnesses, however, that I am quite honest about the provisions of this Bill. It is a commission to set up a commission. It is limited in its scope. It sets out a piece of research work that would be needed if we thought it was a good idea to transpose a version of the Welsh legislation on future generations to an Irish context. That could not be done quickly because it needs that research work underpinning it. That is what my Bill proposes to do.

The central ambition of the Bill is to establish an independent commission for future generations to consider and report within 12 months on how best to set up an office of ombudsman for future generations in Ireland. I have set out a number of key areas this proposed commission could examine, including the measurement of progress of the overall well-being of our society using the well-being framework, which is something being worked on already in the Department of the Taoiseach; how to ensure best practice among public bodies and Departments, which is important; embedding the principles of sustainable development in all we do; and a potential role of a joint Oireachtas committee on future generations, as we have seen in other jurisdictions.

The provisions of the Bill, for the most part, are technical in nature and are about the setting up and dissolution of the commission. I draw the committee's attention to section 3 of the Bill, which sets out the functions of the committee specifying that it should have regard to the well-being framework as well as intergenerational issues including climate and biodiversity emergencies, the provision of care to children and older people, demographic changes and intergenerational income and wealth distribution.

Last week, Senator Clonan had some very constructive suggestions on what else could be included on that list.

Section 5 sets out various criteria for how members of the commission should be appointed, taking into account experience and knowledge of areas such as climate science, ecology, economics, intergenerational equity, public health, culture and the arts, or community development. I feel strongly as well that there should be a competence in Irish-language matters.

Section 15 is perhaps the most consequential section. It details the proposed output of the commission once established. It specifies that the commission shall report not later than 12 months after the appointment of its members. It sets out 11 matters that may fall within the consideration of the scope of work of the commission. Again, this is not an exhaustive list. If this Bill proceeds to Committee Stage, I would be hopeful that members would bring their own perspective, experience and expertise to suggest other areas that this commission might usefully examine.

I thank the committee for the engagement to date. I found last week's session very useful and I look forward to hearing the outcome of today's session as well.