Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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On the 21st June 2005 the Government decided that Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) should be introduced across all Government Departments and Offices. RIAs must be conducted on:

1. all proposals for primary legislation involving changes to the regulatory framework (subject to some exceptions)

2. significant Statutory Instruments

3. proposals for EU Directives and significant EU regulations when they are published by the European Commission.

Screening Regulatory Impact Analysis has been carried out by my Department on three occasion in the years 2006, 2007 and 2008. The analyses in question were in respect of the Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2007, the Student Support Bill 2008 and the Recognition of Professional Qualifications (Directive 2005/36/EC) Regulations 2008.

However, the purpose of a screening RIA is not solely to determine whether a full RIA is necessary but rather to determine whether there are significant impacts which would require further consultation and more detailed analysis. In accordance with best practice, a full RIA would be conducted by the Department where the Screening RIA indicates that any one or more of the following would apply:

1. There will be significant negative impacts upon national competitiveness;

2. There will be significant negative impacts on the socially excluded, or on vulnerable groups;

3. There will be significant environmental damage;

4. The proposals involve a significant policy change in an economic market or will have a significant impact on competition or consumers;

5. The proposals will disproportionately impinge on the rights of citizens;

6. The proposals will impose a disproportionate compliance burden;

7. The costs to the Exchequer or third parties are significant, or are disproportionately borne by one group or sector. (Initial costs of € 10 million or cumulative costs of € 50 million over 10 years — to include both costs to the Exchequer and third parties — would be considered significant in this context).

As the Deputy will note, one of the Screening RIAs was conducted in relation to the transposition of a Directive which had been agreed prior to the advent of RIA and thus an ex-ante approach to the application of RIA to the matters giving rise to these regulations would not have been possible. In the case of the remaining two RIAs, the Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2007 and the Student Support Bill 2008, both had their origins in a series of expert reports. The Student Support Bill 2008 arose as a consequence of the recommendations of a series of reports in respect of which extensive consultation took place with the educational partners over a considerable period of time, i.e. the Report of the Advisory Committee on Third-level Student Support (the de Buitleir Report, 1993), the Report of the Action Group on Access to Third-level Education (MacNamara, 2001) and Supporting Equity in Higher Education (2003) were such as to have framed the context within which the proposals for legislation would proceed.

It may also be noted that the Student Support Bill 2008 proposed a reduction in the number of awarding authorities, and therefore in light of the fact that no significant additional costs or impacts would arise, it was not considered necessary to carry out a full RIA. The key elements of the Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2007 arose on foot of the need to give effect to the Report of the Taskforce on Student Behaviour, ("School Matters", March 2006), a report which considered more than 150 submissions from various parties, and for which ultimately the legislative amendments would not give rise to any additional compliance burden and therefore it was decided not to proceed with a full RIA in this case either.