Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

To be helpful to Senator Bacik, the various provisions contained in the Bill will come into effect in a number of ways. Certain sections require or specify a date on which the provisions of that section come into operation. For example, section 10, which relates to the minimum contribution payable by self-employed contributors, specifies that this measure will take place from 1 January 2013. Where no specific commencement date is provided for in the relevant section of the Bill and where that provision is not to be brought into force by way of a commencement order in accordance with section 1(4), that provision of the Bill will come into effect on the enactment of the Bill, and obviously that will require the President's signature after the passage of the Bill.

That is the case, for instance, with the provisions of section 3 which relate to the calculation of the yearly average and alternative yearly average for State pension purposes.

The purpose of a commencement order is to provide an element of flexibility regarding the timing of when a particular provision of the Bill is to be commenced. This allows for the necessary administrative work to be undertaken to facilitate the introduction of the particular measure. As a commencement order made in accordance with section 1(4) is merely bringing particular provisions contained in the Bill that have already been approved by both the Dáil and the Seanad into force from a specific date, it would be inappropriate for such orders to have to be approved once again by the Oireachtas.

The specific proposal being made was that such orders would require to be approved by a committee of the Oireachtas. This would in effect give a committee of the Oireachtas the power to overrule the will of the Oireachtas. That is why I said if people want discussions on certain matters they can take them to the relevant committee and the relevant committee can decide to discuss them but the committee does not have power of legislation. As I have said, I do not believe that is necessary or appropriate and for the same reason I do not consider it appropriate for drafts of such an order to have to be debated by a committee of the Oireachtas before it could be made but it is open to the Oireachtas committee on education and social protection to debate the implications of such an order once it has been made.

Conversely, I would point out that in last year's Bill, for instance, which was the subject of much discussion here among the Senators, there was the age in regard to lone parents. That comes into effect on 1 January next. If the Bill is passed, including the proposal before the House in the relevant section towards the end of the Bill, that date will be brought forward next year and every other year to the beginning of July. However, if the Bill is not passed last year's Act stands and the ageing out process in regard to approximately 1,000 lone parents begins in January and every January thereafter, as opposed to the proposal in the Bill to amend that and change it to July to facilitate interviews for lone parents who are ageing out and to facilitate opportunities around training and education for lone parents whose children are older and who, as we discussed last year, are settled in school. I hope that clarifies the matter.