Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The provision undermines the independence of the agency. Trying to get distance between regulatory bodies and the bodies they are supposed to be regulating has proven extremely difficult in Ireland. For example, CIE should have no say at all in the operations of the National Transport Authority, which administers the budget for transport in a wider context. Observations on how to publish the report would be utterly irrelevant. There will be a person involved who has plenty of experience in publishing reports. The EPA will have to adjust to an independent body publishing the reports in its best professional judgment. I regret the section remains but I will not push the amendment. However, if we are really serious about independence, what the EPA thinks of the manner in which the advisory council publishes its reports should be utterly irrelevant. It should not be done in-house or by the EPA's secretariat or management. I do not believe in Chinese walls. I believe in separate institutions, which we should have had here.