Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 10:

In page 17, line 19, after "users" to insert the following:

"and any such exception shall only be with the consent of the Minister".

Under the amendment ministerial consent would be required where a watering down of the universal service obligation was proposed. The Bill is full of promises, but when we read the next section we find derogations all over the place. I propose that ministerial consent be required for derogations from the universal service obligation. It is a self-evident and simple amendment that would provide an extra safeguard at a time when the Government has made it clear that it intends to sell State assets to fund the NewERA programme.

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