Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

As the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, indicated on Committee Stage it is not possible to accept the Senator's amendment. The purpose of this amendment seems to be to allocate responsibility to the Oireachtas for approving the proposed authority's draft transport strategy. I am concerned the amendment transgresses the accepted boundary between the executive function of Government and the legislative and oversight roles of the Houses of the Oireachtas. I do not consider such a transgression appropriate or desirable. The function of the Oireachtas is to provide an oversight role, it is not about control and power, which were the words used by Senator Paschal Donohoe.

Everyone, including political parties and public representatives, will be entitled to make his or her views known during the preparation of the authority's draft transport strategy. However, the authority will be responsible for preparing the strategy and it is the Minister for Transport who will be responsible for approving it. The Minister will, in turn, be accountable to the Oireachtas for any decision taken in respect of the strategy. The relevant committee of the Oireachtas, currently the Joint Committee on Transport, will be able to call in the authority at any time. It will also have the power to make recommendations to the authority and there is provision for this in section 41. This power can be exercised when the authority is preparing its draft transport strategy if the committee decides it is appropriate to do so. That is the position and I ask the Senator to withdraw the amendment. While it is for the transport committee to exercise its power and its influence to call in the authority, it is the Minister for Transport who is responsible for approving the plan.