Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 4, line 27, to delete "or" and substitute "and".

Both of these amendments are related to the same issue. Section 3 amends section 31 of the Health Act 1947 by inserting a new subsection 6C, which provides for a power for the Minister to make regulations relating to penal provisions, which is what we have been speaking about. It then prescribes a number of matters the Minister should take into account when applying or drafting those regulations or regulations relating to a fixed payment notice. The proposed subsection 6C(b)(iii)(I) states the Minister must consider the utility of providing for such additional means of enforcement of penal provisions as part of the effort on the part of the State to maintain and enable the graduated restoration of normal functioning of society or to avoid the imposition of restriction or further restrictions on society. It seems clear that what is intended is that the Minister will consider both of these. The Minister will consider maintaining the graduated restoration of normal functioning of society and avoiding the imposition of restrictions or further restrictions. The word that is used is "or". Therefore, it is disjunctive and creates an either-or situation.

The same is true in the following paragraph, which states the Minister may make regulations prescribing for the form of a fixed payment notice or the process to be followed by a member of An Garda Síochána when giving a person a fixed payment notice. It should be "and". It should be a conjunctive clause. Presumably, if the Minister makes regulations prescribing the form of a fixed penalty notice, he or she must also make regulations for the process. If it is either-or then the Minister cannot make regulations, by my reading, for the process to be followed by a member of An Garda Síochána. In these two subparagraphs it should be "and" instead of "or". We should be conjoining these two considerations and not separating them.