Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

The purpose of this section is to ensure that Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas have the opportunity to question the Minister on any direction or guidelines that he gives. Any guidelines given to the authority or a subsidiary of the authority must be published and it is then up to the Members of either House who have concerns about the nature or detail of such a direction or guideline to ask the Minister to account for his or her actions. This can be done in either House in the normal way during parliamentary questions or Adjournment debates, or the committee can invite the Minister before it. On the basis that the intent of the Senator's amendment is dealt with in the Bill, and that it is open to the Members of the House to make the Minister accountable, I ask him to withdraw the amendment.