Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis na Teachtaí Ó Snodaigh, Munster agus Mythen as a gcuid leasuithe. During the course of Committee Stage, I undertook to come back to Deputy Ó Snodaigh on the proposal to substitute "Coimisiún" and "Coimisinéir" for "Commission" and "Commissioner" wherever mentioned in the Bill. As the Deputy referred to, I wrote to him in this regard on 16 November. As he has said himself, I understand and agree with the underlying intention of the proposed amendment but, at this stage, it would require more than 500 individual amendments to be read, moved and voted on, which would be onerous and burdensome. However, I will seek Government approval to bring forward a single amending provision to affect the necessary changes for inclusion in future legislation as soon as is practicable.

This would be an efficient and effective way to achieve the intended aim. As I set out in the letter, the current approach in the Bill fulfils the requirement of section 9D(1) of the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021, once sections 4 and 5 of that Act are commenced, because it provides that the legal name of the new regulator is to be coimisiún na meán. The reference to commission and commissioner is for interpretive purposes for the English language version of the Bill. Is í fírinne an scéil ná gur féidir an cuspóir atá taobh thiar de na leasuithe a moladh a bhaint amach trí leasú amháin ar an mBille nuair a achtófar é. Ag an bpointe seo, bheadh os cionn 500 leasú ag teastáil chun an leasú mar a bhí beartaithe. This is the reason, as Deputy Ó Snodaigh has said, that once this becomes an Act it can be done with one amendment in the future.

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