David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

The Long Title states this is, "An Act to enable provision to be made [by Ministers] . . . consistent with the resources available to them and their obligations in relation to their allocation . . .". Yesterday the Minister of State said this was a standard statement in all Bills. I beg to differ because I conducted a trawl of every Bill that has been passed since 1999 and this statement is not to be found in any Long Title. The statement in this Long Title, therefore, is unique.

It is a ground-breaking statement, which provides belts and braces and bells and whistles to constrain resources. Why is it necessary in this Bill when it was not necessary in every other Bill I examined, including the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004? I would be interested if the Minister of State could refer to a Long Title in which that statement is included. For example, it is not contained in the Long Titles of the State Authorities (Public Private Partnership Arrangements) Act, the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) (Amendment) Act 2002 or Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002. These Acts provide for significant expenditure of Exchequer funding but it was not deemed necessary include such a statement. Why has it been inserted in this legislation?

I acknowledge that most Bills contain a provision similar to section 3 of the Civil Defence Act 2002, which states: "The expenses incurred by the Minister in administering this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas." This is a standard provision which is also contained in this legislation. However, the belts and braces and bells and whistles the Minister of State is attaching to resources demonstrates how mean-spirited the legislation is, having been introduced by a mean-spirited Government. Why is the Government so afraid of people with disabilities that it has inserted provisions throughout the legislation to prevent them from accessing services?

See this speech in context