Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

Section 18(1) provides that the Minister may, in certain circumstances, remove all of the members of Inland Fisheries Ireland. The amendment proposes to have such a removal subject to the approval of the Oireachtas. The Minister is primarily responsible for the corporate governance of Inland Fisheries Ireland, including its board, and it must be open to him or her to decide to remove the entire board if the specified circumstances occur. It is not appropriate for this provision to be subject to prior Oireachtas approval as the criteria under which this action can be taken are very specific.

Following the Committee Stage debate on this section in the Other House, I agreed to include a provision whereby the Minister will provide the joint Oireachtas committee with an appropriate statement indicating the circumstances of removal of all members under this provision. The Senator will note that this provision has been included at subsection (2). I trust the amendments made to the Bill will alleviate the Senator's concern in this matter. He will understand that, in the circumstances, I cannot accept the proposed amendment.

In short, I amended this provision in the other House by introducing a specific requirement on the Minister, should he take the rather extreme step of removing the board, to engage in a formal notification process to the Oireachtas committee. This requirement was not provided for in the legislation as originally drafted and moves some way in the direction sought by the Senator.

The Senator's party is riding high in the opinion polls and he may be in a ministerial position in future. In such circumstances, he would understand that the executive authority for removal must lie with the Minister. Clearly, the idea of a statement in the event of such an extreme form of removal occurring would, of necessity, involve the Oireachtas in intense debate as to the reasons for such a ministerial decision.