Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Ó Murchú is concerned that the powers of designation rest solely with the Minister and that there should be some degree of oversight. The legislation as written provides for independent judicial oversight as well as consultation throughout the process. Where a vendor is designated, an independent judge can overturn that. The power does not rest solely with the Minister, which is not how other countries implemented the same objective. Instead, they made it so that their respective ministers solely could make a designation. In Ireland, a judge will be involved. The courts will have oversight and there will be consultation throughout. This provision is based on the EU process. In other words, it will be fair, non-discriminatory and transparent to the maximum extent without impacting national security.

The criteria come from the EU toolbox, which uses the phrase "high-risk supplier". That is the origin of our terminology. Deputy McNamara and other Deputies have complained to me in recent weeks about this specific wording, saying it is pejorative or inflammatory. Deputy McNamara asked me directly about which other countries used this term. The Netherlands was asked to change its term and it changed it to "untrusted vendors". I do not know how that is better. The UK uses the phrase "relevant vendor". Austria uses the phrase "designated high-risk vendors". The phrase in the EU toolbox, which is the template for how countries make their laws, is "high-risk supplier". Leaving aside the nomenclature, the main point is that these countries are all using the same criteria from the EU toolbox.

This is EU-led legislation. It came from the EU. I discussed with the Commissioner and European ministers what the criteria were and what objectives we were trying to achieve. This designation of vendors could apply to a vendor in any country outside the EEA and the UK, for example, in the US.

I will not call it an insinuation, but Deputy McNamara referred to a rumour about the US ambassador having a say in this legislation. I met the US ambassador in July and she did not mention it to me. The matter did not come up in conversation.

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