Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I will speak on amendments Nos. 11 to 13, inclusive. While the legislation provides that IFI must report and manage its business on the basis of the river basin districts, one must be cognisant that policy in this area is ever evolving. As a consequence, there may be a time when it is not appropriate for the new body to manage its operations precisely on this basis. Based on discussions with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, subsections (2) and (3) were included to allow the Minister to amend this arrangement, by order. Either House of the Oireachtas can annul an order made under this section within 21 days of it being laid before it.

If we removed this provision, which was originally suggested by Deputy Coveney, the only way the reporting and management arrangements could be amended in the future would be by means of new primary legislation. This could be unnecessarily cumbersome if a minor adjustment for operational reasons was required. It is an important provision and one which needs to be retained in legislation. However, I have taken Deputy Coveney's comments on Committee Stage on board and I propose an amendment to provide that the Oireachtas Joint Committee shall be consulted before such an order is made.

Amendment No. 13 is a technical drafting amendment which has been suggested by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. For the reasons outlined, I understand Deputy Coveney is happy to withdraw his amendment but I ask that amendments Nos. 12 and 13 be accepted.

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