Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I move amendment No. 36:

In page 38, line 17, to delete “or expedient”.

While all the amendments in this group relate to amendments, they are all quite distinct, so I am going to deal with each of them separately if that is okay.

Amendment No. 36 seeks to make a change to section 4(2). That subsection currently reads "Regulations under this Act ... may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulations". The dictionary definition of "expedient" is as follows: "convenient and practical although possibly improper or immoral". I do not understand why the Government would want to use a word with a dictionary definition that can include the words "improper" or "immoral". Clearly, regulations should be introduced when they are necessary. The word "expedient" should not be there. I am very interested to hear not only why the Minister of State thinks it should be there, but what might be expedient that would not be necessary, given there is an "or" there. The amendment is very straightforward. It seeks to remove the words "or expedient".