Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I assure Deputies that consultation is the norm nowadays. Not much can happen without consultation, but there are some areas where it does not happen. We dealt with a health insurance risk equalisation Bill some time ago and there were reasons that there could not be consultation on that matter. Generally speaking, however, apart from occasions when somebody could get an advantage through consultation, it is normal. If we replace "may" with "shall", the provision will be extremely prescriptive and put the Government into a straitjacket which may not be necessary. If it is in the interest of patient safety, the Minister may do this but by inserting "shall" the Minister must do this in respect of a host of matters. It may not be necessary to make regulations. There might be a different way to deal with the matter.

Primary legislation, and the courts recently, have ensured that Ministers cannot, through regulations or statutory instruments, set aside primary legislation and do things that it does not intend. It is equally true that if one puts into primary legislation a requirement to do something one must do it for a host of situations in which it might not be necessary. I am not in a position to accept the amendment.

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