Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)
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Question 74: To ask the Minister for Finance 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. [33971/12]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)
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Question 75: To ask the Minister for Finance the procedures operating in his Department for identifying when a Bill requires a poverty impact and or regulatory impact analysis and when it is exempt; the procedures for conducting and publishing that analysis, when applicable; and if he will identify, by rank or position, the officials responsible for managing and making decisions on this process.. [33980/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 74 and 75 together.

In response to the Deputy's questions the Department of Finance undertakes Regulatory Impact Analyses (RIA) and Poverty Impact Assessments (PIA) in accordance with the relevant guidelines. A RIA is carried out in accordance with the latest guidelines published by the Department of the Taoiseach. A PIA is carried out in accordance with the latest guidelines for such assessments published by the Social Inclusion Division of the Department of Social Protection. PIAs are integrated within the RIA process, which includes a specific requirement to examine the impacts of regulatory proposals on the socially excluded and vulnerable groups. Where it is deemed necessary to carry out a RIA or a PIA on a policy or programme that is being developed, it is the responsibility of the area involved to produce the required reports.

In the period in question the following legislation was initiated by me as Minister for Finance:

The Bretton Woods Agreements (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 2011 was published on 6 December 2011 and was enacted on 5 March 2012. No proposed amendments by members of the opposition were accepted. The Bill did not require a RIA or a PIA as the legislation has no regulatory or poverty impacts.

I have also brought forward a number of Finance Bills; Finance (No. 2) Bill 2011 was published on 19 May and enacted on 11 July 2011, Finance (No. 3) Bill was published on 9 June 2011 and enacted on 27 July 2011 and Finance Bill 2012 was published on 8 February and enacted on 31 March 2012. No opposition amendments were accepted in relation to this legislation. There was no requirement to carry out a RIA as the guidelines as set out in section 3.4 of the Cabinet Handbook were followed.

The Insurance (Amendment) Bill was published on 13th September, 2011 and was enacted on 30th September 2011. This was emergency legislation and no RIA was carried out.

The European Financial Stability Facility and Euro Area Loan Facility (Amendment) Bill 2011 was published on 16th September 2011 and was enacted on 23rd September 2011. No RIA or PIA was carried out and no opposition amendments were accepted to the Bill.

The Euro Area Loan Facility (Amendment) Bill 2012 was published on 2 March 2012 and was enacted on 9 March 2012. No RIA or PIA was carried out and no opposition amendments were accepted to the Bill.

The European Stability Mechanism Bill was published on 8 May 2012 and enacted on 3 July 2012. No RIA or PIA was carried out and no opposition amendments were accepted to the Bill.

The Central Bank and Credit Institutions (Resolution) Bill 2011 was published 24 May, 2011 and enacted on 20 October 2011. No RIA or PIA was carried out and no opposition amendments were accepted to the Bill.

The Central Bank (Supervision & Enforcement) Bill 2011 was initiated but has yet to complete the legislative process. There were no amendments accepted to the Bill. A RIA was carried out but a PIA was not carried out on the legislation.