Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While there are some problems in this legislation, it has improved since Second Stage, on Committee Stage, as the Minister has taken on board some of our suggestions. He is one of the few Ministers to have taken on board the substance of the majority of the issues we raised, with one exception. Search and retrieval fees, Irish Water, Eirgrid, and bringing a draft order before the House are all issues we raised. It is a tribute to us in opposition but also to the Minister that he has accepted them. Other Ministers might not have done so.

We asked that before a regulation is passed it be brought to the House. That is in my amendment No.17. I tabled it on Committee Stage but withdrew it in order to have it discussed in the Chamber, not outside, after which it would be published in Iris Oifigiúilor laid in the Oireachtas Library. Amendments Nos. 33 and 34 allow for this and state that a draft order will require a resolution of the House. I would even have been happy with a debate at the relevant committee but it is good to require a resolution of the House.

I compliment this Minister in particular because other Ministers should have done this. As I said on Committee Stage, I do not trust the Government generally but will in most cases make an exception for this Minister. The former Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government laid the statutory instruments for Irish Water in the Oireachtas Library at very short notice, making it almost impossible for the local authorities to meet the deadlines. That was because the draft instruments were not brought before this House. That is the substance of this amendment and of the issue I am speaking about. I contrast what the Minister is agreeing to do, which I am happy about, with what his former Cabinet colleague did in respect of amending the local property tax rate by local authorities. That was published only a couple of days ago, which made it almost impossible for local authority members to meet that objective and to honour commitments made by the Minister’s party and mine. He did it slyly by placing it in the Library without any debate in the Houses of the Oireachtas or at any committee. That was not the way to do it. The way this Minister is doing it, bringing it before the House for a positive resolution, is a welcome contrast to how other Ministers act. I single out that example because it happened recently and is probably the most topical one at the moment. When we come to amendment No. 17, I will be happy to withdraw it because I am satisfied with the Minister’s amendments Nos. 33 and 34, which achieve the same objective.

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