Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Amendments Nos. 2 and 9 are Opposition amendments proposed in the Dáil and accepted by the Government. The effect of these amendments is to provide for the board established under the legislation to be known as an bord um chuntais dhíomhaoine or, in English, the dormant accounts board. These amendments were introduced by Deputy Brian O'Shea on Committee Stage in the Dáil and were fully supported and accepted by all parties. I acknowledge Deputy O'Shea's initiative in bringing forward this bilingual approach to naming the board.

Amendments Nos. 3 to 7, inclusive, were Government amendments introduced in the Dáil. The effect of these amendments is to provide for the board's disbursement plan to be approved by the Government, rather than by the Minister, for which the arrangement in the original legislation provides. The purposes for which funding from dormant accounts can be disbursed are sport programmes and projects tackling disadvantage and assisting people with disabilities. This very broad remit cuts across the activities of several Departments. These amendments, which I introduced on Committee Stage in the Dáil, ensure that the board's disbursement plan, which provides the overall framework within which funding proposals and decisions will be made, is considered and approved by the Government.

When the current board submitted its dispersal plan to me for approval in June 2003 I ensured it was considered and approved by the Government before the board published it. I was not required to do this under the existing legislation as I could have approved the plan. However, my view then and now is that bringing this to Government is a better procedure. The Government is involved in the new Bill at other stages of the procedure and, for coherence, I believe the plan should be approved by Government. This gap in the legislation, which I addressed on Committee Stage in the Dáil, should be accepted here.