Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I move amendment No. 23:

In page 11, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following subsection:

"(4) (a) Any shares or stock issued to the Minister for Finance by a public body and registered in his or her name or held in trust on his or her behalf by any person, in accordance with a relevant enactment, shall on the appointed day, stand transferred to the Minister or be held in trust on behalf of the Minister, as may be appropriate, and from that day references in a relevant enactment to the Minister for Finance shall be construed as references to the Minister.

(b) This subsection shall apply notwithstanding any restriction contained in any enactment in relation to the transfer or alienation of shares or stock to which a relevant enactment applies.

(c) In this subsection—

"Act of 2004" means the State Airports Act 2004;

"relevant enactment" means—

(i) section 5 (amended by sections 6 and 14 of the Minerals Company Act 1945) or 15 of the Minerals Exploration and Development Company Act 1941,

(ii) section 16 of the Act of 1945,

(iii) section 6 or 14 of the Act of 1949,

(iv) section 15 or 19 of the Act of 1953,

(v) section 7B, 7C, 7E or 7G (inserted by section 16 of the Energy

(Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006) of the Act of 1976,

(vi) section 19 of the Act of 1983,

(vii) section 17 or 22 of the Act of 1988,

(viii) section 19 or 24 of the Act of 1993,

(ix) section 19 of the Act of 1996,

(x) section 10 or 11 (amended by section 6(4) and the Schedule to the Act of 2004) of the Air Navigation and Transport (Amendment) Act 1998,

(xi) section 14 or 15 of the Act of 1998,

(xii) section 2 (amended by section 21 of the Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006) of the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act 2001,

(xiii) section 10 of the Act of 2004, or

(xiv) Regulation 40 or 45 of the European Communities (Internal Market in Electricity) Regulations 2000 (S.I. No. 445 of 2000).".

Amendment No. 23 provides for the transfer to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform of shares or stock issued to the Minister for Finance by a public body and registered in the name or held in trust on behalf of any person. The list of legislation in regard to public bodies in which this subsection refers is listed in the amendment.

Due to the different way in which shares or stocks are dealt with and constructed in the relevant legislation for each line Department, it was not possible to transfer these particular functions under the transfer of functions order.

Each individual section of relevant legislation is itemised in this amendment. I do not need to go through them individually unless the Deputies want me to do so.

The amendment also provides for the insertion of the Title of the Act of 2004, which is the State Airports Act 2004 and it provides for the vesting, management, operation and development of Dublin Airport, Cork Airport and Shannon Airport.

We had a brief discussion earlier on a question asked by Deputy McDonald regarding these matters. The actual holding of stocks and shares currently vested by a range of legislation, all of which are listed in the amendment, in the Minister for Finance will transfer to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The divesting of those will be a matter for me as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in consultation with the Minister for Finance. The divesting of shares or stock above the value of €50 million will require the formal consent of the Minister for Finance.

See this speech in context