Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I move amendment No. 7d:

In page 7, subsection (1), lines 23 and 24, to delete "The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance," and substitute "The Minister shall, no later than seven years after the enactment of this Act, or at any earlier time".

The purpose of this amendment is to put a time limit on the life of the legislation. My reason for suggesting what I call this sunset clause is the experimental nature of what is proposed in the Bill. We are moving into new territory with this legislation. We should, therefore, keep a close eye on what happens and how it develops. I am not doing this because I have reservations about the objectives of the Bill because it should be clear by now that I fully support them. However, I want to ensure that we legislate in such a way as to ensure that these objectives are realised.

I am aware that the Bill, as drafted, includes a provision for a review of the scheme every three years. I approve of and support that approach. However, we should go further. After two such reviews, namely, after six years, it will then be time for the Minister of the day to come back to the Oireachtas. He could say at that stage that the scheme has been a failure and that he wants to abolish it. I am fairly sure that will not happen. The second thing he could say is that the scheme's operation has proved to be satisfactory and that he wants to introduce amending legislation which will continue its effect beyond the seven years proposed in the legislation. The third thing he could say is that the scheme has proved to be broadly satisfactory, but that there is a need for some fundamental change in the enabling legislation. He may, therefore, introduce a Bill to give legal force to those changes.

If my amendment is accepted, that will happen. If, on the other hand, the Bill is passed without such a sunset clause, the legislation risks falling into the type of limbo into which most legislation falls. Such legislation is on the Statute Book, but it is not revisited by the Oireachtas and we do not get the chance to ask if it achieved what we set out to achieve when we passed it. I realise a similar argument could be made for putting sunset clauses into most Bills, but that is not my point today. My argument today is that the experimental nature of this Bill creates a strong case for making it a requirement that the Oireachtas revisits the matter after a suitable period has elapsed. We would then be able to ask if it worked and whether we should change it. I included a period of seven years, which is worthy of consideration.