Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Taoiseach on what was a full apology to the women who were in the Magdalen institutions, an apology which was long overdue from successive Governments. It is a tribute to him that he appointed Mr. Martin McAleese to the Seanad to carry out that very difficult task of researching what had happened in the Magdalen laundries, culminating in the report presented and last night's apology, which we all welcome.

I ask the Leader to organise a debate on red tape and regulatory impact assessments. The Government promised that it would cut red tape by ensuring legislation from this House or the European Union would be thoroughly scrutinised to ensure it would not stop job creation or prevent the sustaining of employment. However, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Minister, Deputy Brendan Howlin, have carried out only one regulatory impact assessment of all the legislation passed through these Houses in two years. That is all he has done in two years. A total of 200 EU directives were issued last year and 167 the year before, but the Minister has only carried out one regulatory impact assessment. This House deals on average with 50 Bills a year, but only one regulatory impact assessment has been carried out. A report was produced on the amount of red tape involved on Valentia Island. Between marine licences, planning permission applications and other Government-controlled authorities and regulations, red tape was preventing the creation of a total of 70 jobs. Regulatory impact assessments need to be carried out of all legislation and EU directives, yet the Minister has only carried out one such assessment. One report in two years does not look like reform.