Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In her response to the proposal to insert the word "consistency" in the relevant line, the Minister outlined several reasons that consistency is important and noted that the need for consistency was one of the key factors in establishing the agency in the first instance. She then stated that, for the reasons she had outlined, it was not necessary to include the word "consistency" in the legislation. Her line of argument does not add up.

Is consistency referred to elsewhere in the legislation? Is it made clear in the Bill that consistency is expected of the agency, especially given that it was a key objective when establishing a single agency? If the word "consistency" will not be included on the basis that consistency is taken for granted, why is the Minister going to the trouble of inserting the words "performance", "transparency" and "accountability"? If one uses her logic, these characteristics should also be taken for granted. Will she set out the reasons for including these three words, while refusing to include the word "consistency", which if of equal importance?

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