Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 150: To ask the Taoiseach the occasions on which he did not carry out any form of regulatory impact analysis on statutory instruments, bills and EU directives for the years 2006, 2007 and to date in 2008; the reason for this decision; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23873/08]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 153: To ask the Taoiseach the occasions on which his Department has carried out a screening regulatory impact analysis on Statutory Instruments, Bills and EU Directives in the years 2006, 2007 and to date in 2008; the occasions on which they have subsequently decided not to carry out a full regulatory impact analysis; the reason this decision was made in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22689/08]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 150 and 153 together.

Since the introduction of RIA in June 2005, a Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) has been carried out on two occasions by my Department. The first RIA was conducted on the Statute Law Revision Act 2007. The second RIA was conducted in relation to the next phase of the Statute Law Revision Programme, i.e. on the Statute Law Revision Bill 2008.

On both occasions, screening RIAs were conducted. As a full RIA is only required in cases involving significant costs or impacts, it was not applicable in these cases.

Since 2006, 18 Statutory Instruments relating to the work of the Central Statistics Office (CSO) have been produced. These Statutory Instruments specify technical requirements such as the contents and scope of statistical surveys and do not alter the regulatory framework. As RIA is only required in the case of significant SIs involving changes to the regulatory environment, it was not applicable in these cases.