Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I understand the Minister of State's messaging and concern in relation to the question of the establishment of precedence. It is something that he feels would cross over between these two independent entities. He has asserted that from his perspective at least, there is a very clear separation of functions in the implementation of the Act. However, I believe that in that context, it should be possible for the phrase "as far as is practicable" to be removed. If it is very clear which articles the CCPC has competency over and which articles and general functions relate to Coimisiún na Meán, we should be able to move past "as far as is practicable" and actually get to language on ensuring consistency between decisions. There will not be a clash of those decisions because as the Minister of State noted, the same articles are not going to be decided by the same bodies. There may be transfers of information and movement of a complaint that arrives in the wrong place to the correct and appropriate place, but there will not be a clash of decisions. I think we should be able to remove "as far as is practicable" from that.

Perhaps the Minister of State could clarify something for me. He mentioned the review, and that the co-operation agreement is an agreement between the two entities that they will construct themselves. Is it the case that a review can be triggered by either entity at any point? For example, in a situation where there is a concerning pattern of inconsistency emerging in relation to decisions, would one of the entities be able to trigger a review? That is what my amendment seems to empower. How would a review be triggered in relation to the co-operation agreement if it was found to be inadequate in terms of that issue of addressing inconsistencies? I accept that the entities will be putting the co-operation agreement together themselves, but I am wondering about the question of where it is found to have been unsuccessful in averting inconsistencies. I ask the Minister of State to clarify those two points. I am happy to park the middle two amendments for now.