Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Penrose's concerns are certainly valid but they are catered for. As I said on Committee Stage, the checks and balances of the Oireachtas oversight of the regulations to be made under this Act are provided in section 36 of the primary Act, which requires and lays out that regulations and orders under that Act have to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas by the relevant Minister. Section 3B of this Bill has the effect of amending just one word of that Act by substituting "section" for "Act". The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel drafted this in such a way as to ensure the Act will be robust enough to enforce EU legislation on chemicals and to ensure the scope of regulation making powers under the Act cannot be extended. The scope is limited by section 5 of the principal Act and can only be changed by primary legislation. A Minister will only be empowered to make regulations where they are necessitated by a directive of the EU concerning chemicals. The limits to regulation making powers, which are provided for specifically in section 5(3)(a) of the principal Act and repeated in section 3(b) of this Bill, make it clear that any regulations made cannot amend the European Communities Act.

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