Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I, too, congratulate both Irish teams. It is a great achievement for the Irish soccer team to reach the final 16 of Euro 2016. I say "Well done" to everyone concerned, the management, players and their back-up support.

I wish to refer to an important Supreme Court decision that was issued in the past few days as it concerns checks and balances. I advise everyone to read the decision. I refer to a case where the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977, SI No. 551 of 2011, was declared unconstitutional by the Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court overturned that decision in the past few days and set out clear guidelines on secondary legislation. It advised that there must be checks and balances. It means that when we delegate powers we must ensure there are clear boundaries and when we are dealing with legislation. I will refer to the decision because it is relevant to all of us. From now on, when dealing with legislation, we must not delegate too much of the powers and retain our role in providing legislative oversight. Were the Oireachtas required to legislate for every aspect of a particular statutory scheme it would quickly become mired in detail and in the task of precisely predicting future developments, as opposed to legislating for existing trends which may change as to detail. Instead of continual re-legislating, primary legislation can set boundaries as to what can be provided for in subsidiary legislation.This allows subsidiary legislation to be flexible and address future developments provided those developments are keen to the mischief outlawed in the parent Act. In this way no derogation from the constitutional imperative to exercise the democratic function is involved. Basically, it suggests we can delegate, but it is important that we retain our right to ensure the matter is kept under the control of the Oireachtas.

The judgment is important in that it sets clear boundaries for what we can delegate and how we control the derogation. This highlights the importance of our role and the role of Dáil Éireann. Certainly, the Supreme Court has outlined the powers we can delegate to Ministers to ensure that statutory instruments do not go beyond the powers that we delegate to them.