Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 5, between lines 10 to 11, to insert the following:

"(b) to prepare and approve detailed proposals for disbursement under the Dormant Accounts Acts 2001 to 2004,".

I move this amendment to avoid complications. I welcome what the Minister said about the report of the dormant accounts board being discussed in the House and invite him to consider, not necessarily here but before the Bill is passed by the Oireachtas, inserting a formulation of words in the legislation to ensure the report is laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and debated. It is not that I distrust people when they say they will do something. Most Ministers who come into this House say that with the best of intentions but things can get lost in the mists of time and it is necessary to have a requirement in the legislation that the report be laid before the Houses and debated in the House, although not before a joint committee.

Despite my high opinion of joint committees, issues do not get noticed much in them and they often discuss issues without the presence of the Minister, although officials from the Department may be present. It is a question of ultimate political accountability, which would not be the case if the dormant accounts board met the appropriate Oireachtas committee. Members of such committees usually feel, even if they are not so precluded, they should not be too critical of Ministers whereas many of us in this House do not have the same inhibitions. A debate in the Oireachtas, therefore, would be useful. I take the opportunity, in moving the amendment, to invite the Minister to further pursue what he has already indicated he would like to do.