Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)
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Question 116: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation with regard to all legislation initiated by him since coming into office: the number of Bills that have completed the legislative process; the number of occasions on which amendments proposed by members of the opposition have been accepted; the number of Bills for which regulatory impact analyses have been published; the number of Bills for which poverty impact analyses have been published; and when a Bill was exempt from the requirements to do poverty impact and regulatory impact analysis, if he will state same. [33977/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Since assuming office in March 2011, seven Bills have been published by my Department:

· Patents (Amendment) Bill 2011

· Competition (Amendment) Bill 2011

· Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Bill 2011

· Industrial Relations (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2011

· Credit Guarantee Bill 2012

· Companies (Amendment) Bill 2012

· Microenterprise Loan Fund Bill 2012

Of the Bills published, the following have, at this point, been enacted:

· Patents (Amendment) Act 2012

· Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act 2012

· Competition (Amendment) Act 2012

· Companies (Amendment) Act 2012

In addition, I expect that the Credit Guarantee Bill 2012, the Microenterprise Loan Fund Bill 2012 and, the Industrial Relations (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2011 will be enacted before the end of the summer Parliamentary session in mid-July 2012.

As regards amendments proposed by members of the Opposition to the various Bills, in the case of the Credit Guarantee Bill 2012, an amendment was accepted on the issue of payment of premiums. In the case of the Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Bill 2011, certain concerns raised by Opposition members on a number of aspects were taken on board and, ministerial amendments moved in response to those concerns.

Regulatory Impact Analyses (RIA) were conducted in relation to all of the Bills published since 9th March, 2011. However, in respect of the Companies (Amendment) Act 2012, a RIA was previously prepared and published on the enactment of the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 in relation to the adoption of US Generally Accepted Accounting Practices - GAAP. As the 2012 Act amended the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 to further extend the use of the US GAAP, a further RIA was not required.

Any impacts on poverty would have been assessed as part of the RIA process for all Bills.