Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is published by the CSO. It is not the case that there is no accountability. Anybody can see the consumer price index. The limited power being given to the Minister to increase or decrease the income limits will be predicated exclusively and expressly on movements in the consumer price index, which is open for all to see on the public record because it is published by the Central Statistics Office. I would be concerned if I thought there was substance to the suggestion, which Deputy Colreavy seems to believe, that some kind of broader discretion is being given to the Minister apart from the discretion I have mentioned that is based on the consumer price index. It seems that no such broader discretion will arise because the limited and confined power we are providing for is entirely consistent with the existing legislative position going back to the 2008 Act, which I have in front of me. That legislation was inserted into the Health Act 1970, just as this legislation will be.

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