I move amendment No. 1:
In page 6, line 5, to delete "said".
This is a drafting amendment.
Private Members' Business. - Companies (Amendment) Bill, 1985: Report Stage.
Amendment agreed to.
I move amendment No. 2:
In page 20, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following subsection:
"(2) An order under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either such House within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.".
This is a drafting amendment in response to comments made by Deputy Flynn in regard to the process by which orders are laid before the House. It was theoretically not necessary, but because of the points made by Deputy Flynn it was felt that we could include the specific reference to the process by which an order can be laid before the House in deference to the due process.
I am pleased that the Minister found it possible to accommodate me in this matter. The old section 23, now section 24 in the amended Bill following Committee Stage, was one section about which I was particularly unhappy. It gave the Minister all-embracing powers which would not be regarded as normal. I was trying to protect the Minister from himself or from others who might subsequently take his place, which is why I asked that the section be amended. The Minister has gone quite some way to accommodate me. I take it that the full effect of the amendment is that any order made under this or any other section of the Bill will have to come before the House. If it is challenged in the House and subsequently defeated, it will be annulled forthwith. I take it that the Minister has a mandate to make the orders and have them lodged in the Library, rather than doing it without giving notice to the House. I am happy that the Minister finds it necessary at this time, even if only to accommodate me.
The Deputy is quite in order in seeking the amendment and I have no quibble with him. I would add that the moving of an order under any Act does not empower the Minister to widen the scope of an Act. It merely facilitates him in administering the Act as it is passed by the Oireachtas. I am pleased to be able to accommodate the Deputy and, if necessary, to admit that it clarified the situation quite considerably.
Amendment agreed to.
Might I have a little latitude? There are one or two items on which I should have liked clarification.
Perhaps you could mention them on the next Stage.
Bill received for final consideration.