Phil Prendergast (Labour)

I move amendment No. 34:

In page 6, before section 8, to insert the following new section:

8.—Any order or regulation made pursuant to the Voluntary Health Insurance Acts 1957 to 2007 shall be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and, if a resolution annulling the order or regulation is passed by either such House within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the order or regulation is laid before it, the order or regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.".

The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that any order or regulation made by the Minister is subjected to parliamentary scrutiny. Under the Bill as it stands there is no requirement to present such an order or regulation to the Oireachtas.