John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 8, line 29, after "section" to insert "9 or".

Section 4 deals with what is known as the Henry VIII provision. Article 15.2° of the Constitution provides that the sole and exclusive power of making laws is vested in the Oireachtas. To seek to confer a power on a Minister which would allow him or her to make regulations which would amend an Act is fundamentally wrong. The High Court decision in the Mulcreavy case and the LiuChang case last year should have focused the minds of the Minister and his officials as to the danger of proceeding down the Henry VIII route. I ask the Minister of State to reconsider what he is proposing in this section. I would be surprised if he were to tell me that the Attorney General is in favour of it.

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