Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I move amendment No. 7c:

In page 7, line 17, after "review" to insert ", and the Minister shall, as soon as may be after receiving the review, lay a copy of it before each House of the Oireachtas and shall at the same time cause it to be published by electronic means.".

This amendment is concerned with the matter of publication. The Bill provides that the details of any scheme drawn up by the BCI under this legislation be laid before each House of the Oireachtas. However, it does not mention doing the same with any review of the scheme. That makes no sense. If the Oireachtas is entitled to be informed as a matter of law of the details of any scheme to fund programmes, it seems obvious that the same requirement should apply to the results of any statutory review of the arrangements.

I am not suggesting that every item of correspondence between the BCI and the Minister should be put into the public domain. What is at issue is a formal statutory review which is provided for in the legislation. Such a review is an important document and is of public interest. That is the purpose of the review. There is no argument for the publication of the review being a matter for the Minister of the day to decide. That politicises the matter and it is uncalled for in the present circumstances. The publication of the review should be automatic and immediate.

The amendment further provides that in addition to laying the review before both Houses of the Oireachtas, the Minister should also publish it on the Internet or by electronic means. My arguments for the wider form of publication are the same as the arguments I made earlier and I will not repeat them. The purpose of the amendment is to secure automatic publication of the review. It removes the decision to do so from the hands of the Minister and makes it a statutory requirement. If it is to be done with the original scheme, it should be done with the reviews as well.