David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

To clarify the point I made, it is not that I see my role or anybody's role in this area as passive. The reality, however, is that we are not being prescriptive in this legislation. The Minister of State is suggesting that the Commission for Energy Regulation will again engage and consult with all stakeholders and that Oireachtas Members can be part of that consultation process. That is fair enough. What I am saying is that we can move from being passive players to active participants in the framing of the codes of practice by being much more prescriptive now. Why should we have to wait until the Bill is passed before framing motions, as the Minister of State suggested, in this House or elsewhere, or making representations to the commission?

My point is that we are dealing here with issues that are of fundamental importance to customers, such as billing, methods of payments and so on. I foresee problems in this regard, whether teething problems or more substantial issues of concern to consumers in terms of what they will have to pay and how they can pay it. I am concerned that when those issues arise, we will see Ministers passing the buck and blaming the commission instead of taking responsibility themselves. I am making the point now, before we pass the Bill, that the Oireachtas should be much more prescriptive. If the Minister or the Government wants to pass the buck, that is up to them. We are arguing strongly that the Oireachtas should be far more prescriptive in all of these areas. We certainly should not be obliged to be passive participants in all of this, with no capacity other than to lobby the commission. The Oireachtas is the body that sets legislation. We make the laws and, in so doing, there are areas where we should be more prescriptive. The codes of practice are one such area.

That is the point I was making - not that I would put myself in a passive role in this but that we are being forced to be passive participants simply because we do not seem to have any role. The responsibility is being farmed out to the commission to come up with the codes of practice, after which we can only make telephone calls, write letters and put down motions. That is not a sufficiently robust arrangement. Moreover, it is not good enough to put public representatives, either Government or Opposition Members, in that position.