Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 12 together.

Significant progress has been made since the publication of the 2001 OECD report, Regulatory Reform in Ireland. The focus of our efforts in progressing regulatory reform is now on implementing the Government White Paper, Regulating Better, which was published in January 2004 in response to the OECD's report.

The White Paper sets out six core principles that must be reflected in how we design, implement and review legislation and regulation. Some of the key areas outlined in the OECD report relate to specific sectoral issues and the appropriate Ministers with responsibility for those sectoral areas report directly to the House on progressing those OECD recommendations.

The better regulation group was established in 2004 to progress the commitments in the White Paper and to oversee the implementation of the action plan, which forms part of the White Paper. The group met on five occasions in 2006 and presented a detailed report to Government at its meeting on 13 February on its progress in implementing the commitments in the White Paper. The better regulation group has played a leading role in overseeing the introduction of regulatory impact analysis across Departments and Government offices. Officials are now routinely applying regulatory impact analysis, RIA, to regulatory proposals in advance of their submission to Government. The better regulation unit of my Department provides practical support for officials conducting regulatory impact analyses.

Concrete examples of this support include a dedicated RIA training course, the RIA guidelines, the guidelines on consultation for public sector bodies and the recently established RIA network. Alongside this work, the better regulation group has steered and focused work in the area of statute law revision. The Statute Law Revision Bill 2007, published on 1 February, provides for the repeal of more than 3,000 obsolete Acts that predate the foundation of the State. Two comprehensive public consultation processes preceded the drafting of the text of the Bill. The Bill completed all stages in the Seanad on 14 February and is listed for Second Stage in this House tomorrow. It is envisaged that the Bill will be enacted in the lifetime of the current Dáil. The removal of these ancient Acts from our Statute Book will undoubtedly assist in clarifying the legislation that remains in force.

To identify priorities for improving the regulatory environment for business, the better regulation group has also commissioned the Economic and Social Research Institute to conduct a survey of business attitudes to regulation. This comprehensive survey of more than 800 companies, including SMEs, focuses on red tape and on the impacts of regulation on business more broadly, such as the extent to which regulation facilitates, or is a barrier to, economic growth and the competitiveness of business. I intend to publish the results of this survey shortly.

In addition to the initiatives already mentioned, the better regulation group also oversees the work of a number of subgroups, including the subgroup on regulatory appeals and the subgroup on electronic statutory instruments.

The subgroup on regulatory appeals has been charged with progressing commitments in the White Paper in relation to developing improved approaches to appealing the decisions of the major economic and sectoral regulatory bodies. Given the complex nature of the issues involved in appeals, the Government decided, in July 2006, to initiate a broad public consultation process on the issue, with advertisements placed in the national media.

As part of this consultation process, the subgroup published a consultation paper on regulatory appeals and a successful consultation seminar was organised by my Department in September 2006 to generate debate on the issue and encourage interested parties to respond to the consultation paper. The seminar presented legal, international and business experience in relation to appeals and speakers at the seminar included the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and the Attorney General.

Thirty five submissions have been received to date in my Department in response to the consultation paper on regulatory appeals. The better regulation group is currently in the process of reviewing the submissions received and will publish a synthesis document in the first quarter of this year. These submissions will inform proposals on appeals which the better regulation group will prepare for consideration by the Government.

The subgroup on electronic statutory instruments is looking at improving electronic accessibility to statutory instruments. Revised procedures for the production of statutory instruments have been developed and are currently being piloted across Departments and offices.

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