Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will move to amendment No. 42, the last in this group. I appreciate that we are spending a lot of time on this section, which is only three quarters of a page. However, it governs the issuance of regulations and I suspect that when we get to the next group of amendments and discuss the regulations and enactment, the actual pile of paper containing the regulations arising from the Bill will be substantially bigger than the legislation itself. This is a very important section because if we do not get the process for producing regulations correct and if we do not have adequate public and Oireachtas involvement and oversight, we will have some problems. That leads me to the last amendment on the section.

Section 4(6) states:

If, in any respect, any difficulty arises in bringing any provision of this Act into operation or in relation to the operation of any such provision, the Minister may, by regulations, do anything which appears to him or her to be necessary or expedient for removing that difficulty, for bringing that provision into operation or for securing or facilitating its operation, and any such regulations may modify any provision of this Act [and I emphasise that] in so far as may be necessary or expedient for carrying such provision into effect for the purposes aforesaid, but no regulations shall be made under this section in relation to any provision of this Act after the expiration of 3 years commencing on the day on which the provision comes into operation.

That is an incredibly broad power. I thought I had misread it. "If ... any difficulty arises in bringing any provision of this Act into operation" takes me aback at the range of its scope. We already have a provision stating the Minister can, subject to the various provisions, make any regulation required under this Act to give effect to the relevant sections. What the hell is this subsection about? What is envisaged here?

Is there an anticipation of difficulties? I do not know if this provision was in the original 2000 Act. Is it that the Government accepts there will be a greater volume of difficulties given the complexity and controversial nature of this Bill? It is very broad. I pick up on the concerns raised by Deputy O'Callaghan. Since 2000, the power of the Minister has been greatly expanded. Even if this wording is identical to the provisions in the 2000 Act, it is operating in a radically different context. I, therefore, have enormous concerns about the range of scope and would like some explanation as to why this section is included, what difficulties are envisaged and what could be the scope of the kind of regulations required by this provision, and that sections 4(1) to (5), inclusive, do not already cover?