Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

There is considerable merit in amendment No. 28, not only for this Bill but for the manner in which the Executive treats the Legislature. In recent years, we have become accustomed to legislation by regulation. The power vested in Ministers has been expanded and developed in a way that was not intended by the Constitution.

This debate is broader than these amendments to the Bill. When a Minister is in office for the best part of 20 years, one can see how the Legislature can become an incumbrance or nuisance. We have legislation by regulation, which is wrong. I hope we will have a broader debate on this issue in the context of Dáil reform and the manner in which this Assembly is treated by the Executive. This is true of all Departments and not only of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Regulations are introduced on a weekly basis which never come before the House and whose import is unknown until a problem arises. We then see that there has been no input whatsoever by the Legislature and matters are dealt with by way of Executive diktat and regulation.

This has been commented upon by the courts. Recently, we have seen how the courts are prepared to seek out the intention of the Legislature to determine what is meant by a particular piece of legislation, whether a subsection or section of an Act. The attention of the court is sometimes drawn to the intention of the legislators. This difficulty also applies to guillotined legislation. If Dáil Éireann is silent on a matter, it is difficult to determine what its intention was at any given time. This is what will happen to this and every other Bill passed between now and the end of this session because they will be enacted by way of guillotine and determined in some cases without any debate.

The same is true of regulations. The Minister knows the extent to which regulation is now used, compared to what was the case some decades ago. This is another feature of the arrogance of Ministers and their Departments. They seem to think they can proceed by way of regulation and the Dáil will remain in enforced silence on the matter. This applies to more than just today's legislation. It is a matter which needs to be adverted to in a serious way, perhaps by the Whips.

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