Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 12, line 34, to delete "6 months" and substitute "12 weeks".

This is a resubmission of an amendment I proposed on Committee Stage, with an adjustment to specify 12 weeks instead of eight. Its purpose remains the same, namely, to reduce the duration for which a person can act up as member of the board of the corporate enforcement authority, from six months to 12 weeks. As I said on Committee Stage, as I am sure the Minister of State recalls, six months is a very long time to be acting up in that role. I made a change to the proposed time limit in the light of his expressed reservations and concerns in regard to potential issues around recruitment and how long it might take. The nature of acting up is that it is supposed to be short-term and six months would not be considered short-term by anyone.

The Minister of State said in committee that it would generally take six months to replace someone. However, given the role the corporate enforcement authority will have in tackling serious forms of crime, consideration should be given to streamlining and reducing the length of time for which the board can continue without a permanent member. That would drive the recruitment process. As I said on Committee Stage, there is confusion about how a person will operate while he or she is acting up. It is unclear whether all the relevant authority will be vested in such persons, whether they will be acting up for specific purposes, whether they will receive an acting-up allowance and whether there will have to be an extended period in order for them to get such an allowance.

I am concerned primarily with the idea that we may be putting the six-month period on a legal footing as an accepted definition of short-term acting up. Such a role should not be done for more than a quarter of the year; anything beyond that is straying into the realm of a long-term role. Acting up should only be done in the short term and for emergencies. It is for this reason that I am proposing the amendment.

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