Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 5, between lines 1 and 2, to insert the following:

“Definition

1.In this Act, “relevant statutory instrument” means any regulation made under: (a) the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020;

(b) the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020;

(c) the Criminal Justice (Enforcement Powers) (Covid-19) Act 2020;

(d) the Health (Amendment) Act 2020;

(e) the Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2021; and

(f) the Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Act 2021.”.

As the Minister of State will see, the purpose of this amendment is to provide a definition of "relevant statutory instrument". It is there because we want to gain oversight on the following amendment. I stress that Sinn Féin fully supports public health measures. I want to be crystal clear about that. As I mentioned last week, I was lucky enough to get my booster vaccine. I always take the opportunity to encourage anyone watching or listening who has not been vaccinated to get vaccinated. It is more important now than ever because we just do not know what we are facing.

Our issues with this Bill do not relate to the public health measures; rather, they relate to overall accountability and parliamentary oversight. I had a look at the fairly fractious debate on this legislation in the Dáil. I do not intend to repeat that because many of these arguments have been put back and forth a few times. I am pretty clear that we will probably not reach agreement on the amendments we have tabled. I will be pressing the amendments but, at the same time, we must get our business done. There is very little to be said about this amendment. It just provides a definition of "relevant statutory instrument" because that is important in terms of amendment No. 2.