Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I move amendment No. 8:

In page 9, subsection (1), line 30, to delete "6 months" and substitute "3 months".

This amendment seeks to speed up the process of drawing up strategic plans. Section 10 is written as if the new body is coming out of the blue and the period of six months to draw up such plans would be reasonable if this were the case. It is not as if the Digital Hub Development Agency will be starting from scratch on its establishment day, however, as the interim body that this Bill will dissolve will have been in operation for a number of years by then. Part of the interim company's job is to lay the ground for the agency, so most of the strategic thinking will have been done by day one.

Time is of the essence for this project and I know the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, shares this belief. This agency should have been in existence at least a year ago, although it is not the Minister's fault that it was not. We should not further slow the process by laying down such a leisurely procedure, which is why my second proposal is to replace "as soon as practicable" with "as soon as may be".