Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

While this is a technical Bill, there are some issues with sections 3 and 4 which I wish to raise. Will the Minister of State clarify if section 3 will require further amendments to this area to be introduced through regulation and directive rather than through primary legislation?

Deputy Penrose already referred to the provisions in section 4 and the level of resources required for the Health and Safety Authority, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Health Service Executive to implement the legislation. Have resources been set aside already? What will be the cost of implementing the legislation?

This legislation seems to be rushed in nature because the Government is required to introduce the regulations before the end of November. Accordingly, the implementation of the directives in question may become draconian. In a report on driving export growth, Forfás stated "the manner in which the regulation evaluation authorisation and restriction of chemical substances, REACH, directive is applied in Ireland will have direct implications on the competitiveness of Ireland as a location for the chemicals sector". On the other hand, the Minister of State claimed in his speech "the degree of regulatory compliance is one of the key measures in determining the competitiveness of an economy".

The Forfás report also stated:

There is a perception that the implementation in Ireland of EU legislation such as the REACH directive goes beyond the standard requirements and places Irish based firms at a disadvantage. There is also a concern that Irish regulatory authorities may not always give sufficient recognition to the competitiveness implications of the legislation they develop and enforce.

Regulation is needed in this area but, at the same time, we cannot forget the chemicals sector accounts for 50% of goods exports. It is concentrated in two sectors, namely organic chemicals and medical and pharmaceutical products which together account for 80% of chemicals exports. A balance must be struck between being competitive and compliant with regulations. We must monitor how our neighbours implement these regulations too, a task on which the Government often falls down. For example, in the case of NAMA, why did the Government not monitor how larger EU member states resolved their banking problems? Germany hived off the toxic assets from its banks into separate companies with a 10% to 20% discount. The Government went off-----

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