Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. Section 7(2) states there will be a forum of at least 12 and not more than 60 members. As this is the Government that tried to abolish this House of 60 Members, I welcome the Minister on the road to Damascus. He will recall all of the reasons the Government and, in particular, his Department - the lead Department in this instance - gave in favour of abolishing this House, but he has suddenly become enamoured with a body of 60 members. I am delighted to see this and thank him. When he was in his bunker in the Custom House refusing amendments, among the ones he refused was the one suggesting the National Consumer Agency be considered, but it was not acceptable to the Department. The Competition Authority was also suggested, but it, too, was not acceptable to the Department. Democratically elected local authority members were not acceptable to the Department and the Minister guillotined the debate on the Bill in the Dáil. He promised that he would listen to the Seanad, but I expect that by 6 p.m. he will have done nothing in terms of listening to the Members of this House. He does not like us either.

The Minister said the Commission for Energy Regulation had been consulted. I received a telephone call before coming to the House. It stated it had not been consulted and that there is nothing on its website about the matter. In fact, it has not put anything on its website since 19 November. It is not liked either.

The Minister did not like Bord Gáis when it told him it did not want priority to be given to the installation of meters and there are no minutes of the meeting held, which is a disgrace. Part of the reason we are investigating the banking issue is that the Department of Finance, like the Minister's Department, did not keep minutes either. To continue through the list, the Minister did not want the appraisal section of the Department of Finance working on the forum and, therefore, rejected our amendment.