Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

With respect, the point I am making is that the promissory note was not debated once in the Houses of the Oireachtas. The reason it was not debated in the Houses of Oireachtas, when it was issued on three different occasions, was that there was no requirement for the Minister to seek prior approval for such a thing. The Minister may say it is implicit that the Minister needs Oireachtas approval. The point is that this legislation allows for a Minister to give a direction. We discussed this earlier in my amendment. I said that a direction should be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and that it could be annulled within 21 days. The Minister argued that a direction should not have that power and that it should only be an order because directions would be day-to-day issues.

In section 19, one can actually see that a direction and not an order will given to the agency to dispose of a State asset. It actually states that the agency shall comply with any such directions, so it is not just saying that one would like it to go down that road. This is very clear. While section 19(7) states that the direction must be published, the ability to annul the direction is not there. This is very serious. A Minister, without any recourse to the Houses of the Oireachtas, can give a direction to sell off a State asset. It does not require the approval of the Houses of the Oireachtas. Does the Minister of State have nothing to say to that? Does he believe the Minister should have that power? That is what is being done in this legislation: the Minister will be able to direct the agency to sell off a State asset without any recourse to the Houses of the Oireachtas.