John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I seek clarity in respect of regulatory impact assessments, RIAs. Does the Taoiseach agree that it is quite extraordinary that regulatory impact assessments are never published by Departments? When European Union directives are being introduced, the Secretary General of each Department has all the evaluations of the impact of such regulations but they never are discussed in this House. Second, I refer to the new Europe 2020 job strategy, which is about the European Small Business Act that has been initiated by the European Commission. In light of the impact on jobs and the backbone of the economy, can the Taoiseach clarify that in future, the RIAs for all directives and their interpretation and transposition into Irish law, especially on business with less regulation and bureaucracy, as well as investment in research and development, should be debated within the Parliament? This should be done to get a clear evaluation of such RIAs because it is too late after they have been transposed into Irish law.

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