Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister of State's efforts but she has not responded to my specific question. She says she is not seeking for the patron to seek to the dissolution of the board where they fail to comply. That is not my question. Given that she is putting a legal obligation on the patron to ensure something which the board may not comply with and which may, in turn, trigger a section 37A process, would the Department stand in the way of a patron dissolving the board? It is a very different question from the one the Minister of State answered.

Second, the Minister of State says she will not take on my amendment in respect of section 37A because she wants to create something prior. I see the argument, actually. However, I think the wording could have been found if this had not been so rushed to express this in a way that would actuate and bring about the Minister of State's aim, namely, to draw the patrons into the process of putting pressure on the boards of management. I think that is what the Minister of State wants here. She wants to create some kind of moral obligation that people would work with the process before ever section 37A would be invoked. However, the way to do that is not to create a legal obligation on somebody to do something when they have no power to do it and no sanction, or at least no sanction the Minister of State will endorse here this evening, when they do not.