Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 14:

In page 15, to delete lines 12 to 19.

During the debate in the Dáil, the argument was made that the climate change advisory council should have the same degree of independence as the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, which advises the Minister for Finance on economic matters. As I said on Committee Stage, the relationship between the Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan, and Professor John McHale, chairman of IFAC, is perfectly normal. They do not always have to agree and there is an exchange of advice on both sides to which it always worth attending. The independence of IFAC and the diversity of advice it affords are welcome in the economic sphere and something the Government facilitated willingly in accordance with views expressed by the troika.

The lines we are proposing to delete by way of this amendment provide that the advisory council will be dependent for its secretarial and administrative services on the Environmental Protection Agency. We are arguing that the council should be completely independent rather than having to rely on the EPA for a couple of rooms and a few secretarial and administrative assistants. After all, the council may have to comment from time to time on the work of the agency. The requirement for checks and balances would be better served if these provisions were omitted from the Bill.