Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Níor labhair mé é fós ach ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an Aire. I thank the Minister for bringing the Bill forward. In a general sense, we concur with most of what has been brought forward in the Bill but we will raise a number of issues later on. I thank the Minister's backroom team for its briefing on amendments yesterday. I wish to put on record that we did not think it was right, fitting or correct that so many substantial amendments were brought forward with so little time left to parse them. I note and concur with the points made by Senators previously but shall comment on the amendments and the section.

Sinn Féin is conscious of the fact that the amendment is on the composition of the authority and I think Senator Bacik has made a Freudian slip because she agreed with me on this matter earlier. Sinn Féin would prefer if the Minister would bring forward, and we ask her to consider doing so before Report Stage, an amendment proposing that the authority should consist of 13 members and of the following persons: three persons nominated by the Law Society of Ireland; two persons nominated by the Bar Council of Ireland; one judge of the Superior Courts nominated by the Chief Justice; one person nominated by the Irish Business and Employers Confederation; one person nominated by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions; one person nominated by the National Consumer Council; one person nominated by the Free Legal Advice Centres; and one person selected by the Chief Justice from such persons as are nominated by non-profit legal advocacy groups, as defined in subsection (6), operating in the State. For such purpose each such group shall be entitled to nominate one person for selection as follows: one legal cost accountant nominated by the Institute of Legal Cost Accountants; and one person selected by the Chief Justice from such persons as are nominated by legal education institutions, as defined in subsection (7), operating in the State. For such purposes each such legal education institution shall be entitled to nominate one such person for selection. I note the points made by Senators previously that they concur on this issue. The rest of the suggestions were on the running of the authority, how the authority could elect its members, how it would select a chair, etc. and we also outlined the roles of the authority.

I disagree with the ruling out of order of amendment No. 15 on a technicality because there is merit in the changes we sought. The purpose of the amendment was to increase the membership of the authority from the 11 members proposed by the Government up to 13 members. We did not seek a huge increase. We simply wanted to ensure that the authority was broad enough, fit for purpose and covered all of the different stakeholders that need to be covered.

We are very positive about most of the provisions in the legislation. It is important to emphasise that no provision has been made to afford free legal aid organisations a position on the board of the authority. We feel there should also be representation by an employers' organisation and the trade union movement in order to represent workers' interests based on the social partnership model. The present Government proposal lacks such a provision. Our suggestion would improve what has been put forward.

On another note, there have been issues recently concerning competency in the Irish language. On particular State boards there have been no individuals with competency in the Irish language, which is something that we should look at as well. A number of legal issues have arisen recently which pertain to language and people exerting their rights to have their cases, for example, heard through the medium of Irish. I ask the Minister to clarify if the legislation provides that the board would comprise a number of people who are proficient in the Irish language, which we feel is important in this type of scenario. We shall consider tabling such an amendment on Report Stage.