James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There were a number of points. I hope common sense will prevail and that these regulations will not be needed.

The anti-money-laundering aspects were actually handled by ECOFIN rather than by the Justice and Home Affairs Council, so I will bring that matter to the attention of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, and his Department with a view to having it put on the agenda of the next ECOFIN meeting.

Senator Bacik raised the issue of the Union of Students in Ireland, USI. I will discuss this with the Department of Finance as this relates to a Department amendment brought in on Committee Stage in the Dáil. There is provision for flexibility. Regulation can be made for the Minister for Finance but I want to get clarity on whether those regulations are strong enough to resolve any potential issues for students' unions. I will bring it to the Minister's attention this week with a view to seeing what can be done about it, because obviously it would be a very worrying situation and would put an intolerable burden on students' unions.

On index-linking, the directive has €10,000 in it and so does not give us flexibility on that as written. Again, it is something which could be brought to the attention of the Minister for Finance to be raised at the next ECOFIN meeting. I agree with Senator Ward that it makes eminent sense for index-linking to be included in these directives. As he said, years will pass and suddenly €10,000 might not be worth what it used to be.