Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 149: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance his legislative priorities for the 30th Dáil; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23682/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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My legislative priorities for the 30th Dáil will be formulated in the context of the implementation of the Programme for Government over the coming years. It may be helpful, however, to set out my legislative priorities for the current Dáil session:—

Bills Published:

Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007 — While the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive has been transposed by Statutory Instrument (S.I. 60 of 2007), some complementary adjustments require primary legislation through this Bill. The Bill is also being availed of to make necessary technical amendments to various Acts. The Bill is due for Committee Stage in the Dáil on 17th October and is scheduled to finish in the Seanad on the 31st October 2007.

Ethics in Public Office (Amendment) Bill 2007 — The main purpose of this Bill is to amend the Ethics in Public Office Acts so as to require office holders and Oireachtas members, before accepting significant benefits from a friend for personal reasons, to seek the opinion of the Standards in Public Office Commission that acceptance would not be likely to materially influence the recipient in the performance of his or her functions and duties. The Bill has been passed by the Seanad and it is intended to move it in the Dáil during the current session.

Bills yet to be Published

Appropriation Bill, 2007 — The primary purpose of this Bill is to give statutory effect to individual Estimates (including Supplementary or Additional Estimates) as passed by the Dáil. The Bill will be published in December 2007.

Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill — The purpose of this Bill is to extend the Ombudsman's remit and to update the existing Ombudsman legislation. Publication is expected towards the end of the current session.

Financial Services Regulation Bill — The purpose of this Bill is to consolidate and modernise legislation relating to regulation of financial services. This is an important priority contained in the Building on Success Strategy for the development of the financial services industry in Ireland. An Advisory Forum composed of representatives of all the main stakeholder interests is currently being established to advise and assist in the preparation of the draft legislation. The first meeting of this Forum is expected to take place shortly.