Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have two concerns. First, should there be a Schedule? The Bill contains principles which deals with the law itself and relate to industrial relations and financial matters. I would leave it to the courts to decide.

Second, in the 2008 Bill there were 59 exclusions but this time the Minister has carefully numbered all 110 of them. I am worried about that development. Can a Schedule alter what is contained in the body of a Bill? In other bodies that I am associated with one cannot have something in a Schedule that is not in the body of the Bill. I do not know whether the 110 people have achieved that much by getting themselves exempt if the decision of the court was that they were not exempt under the three grounds stipulated in the Bill. I am also concerned that 59 exclusions have increased to 110 exclusions.

There are some new exclusions. NAMA is excluded now but it was not excluded in 2008. The Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority was not exempt in 2008. We have had a lot of problems with the accounts of Irish banks since then and I do not know how they became exempt between 2008 and now. There are some peculiar things in the Bill. I am against the idea of exemption schedules in general and the way it "growed" like Topsy since 2008. I shared the Minister's objective of extending the powers of the Ombudsman then. However, 110 people do not like it now whereas only 59 people did not like it in 2008 so I propose a toast to the Minister.