Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Our proposal is to remove section 13 from the Bill in its entirety. Section 13 gives the power to the Minister to make regulations that carry criminal sanctions without reference to the Dáil. That is quite a blank cheque to give the Minister and we are not prepared to do it. We do not think the House should be prepared to do it either. No doubt the Minister will argue that no regulation can be made which is outside the framework of the Constitution or within a timeframe other than that within which the Bill operates with the sunset clause. Those are secondary points. The fundamental point is that the Minister should not have the power to make regulations that carry criminal sanctions without the approval of the Dáil, without coming back to the Dáil and debating, discussing and voting on those matters.

On the overall context of the Bill, we are strongly opposed to that minority of publicans and restaurant owners who would flout the regulations in the weeks ahead. That is a disservice to society and to their own workers. We have no truck with that type of approach whatsoever. That does not mean that the Minister should have a blank cheque or carte blanche. These are emergency powers and the idea that the Minister could make regulations that carry criminal sanction without the approval of the House of the specific regulation is not something we are prepared to allow or that the House should agree to.

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