Are the minutes of the meeting of 23 June agreed? Agreed. The next item is correspondence, which will be followed by an update on proposals from the EU. The Information Commissioner will then make a presentation on her annual report and the operation of the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Act 2003.
Under correspondence, the first item is statutory instruments. On 17 June the committee's attention was drawn to SI 198 of 2004, which was laid before the Oireachtas on 28 May. The statutory instrument gives effect to an EU directive requiring the regulation, reorganisation and winding up of credit institutions. The committee decided at the meeting to seek a briefing note on the regulations before deciding whether to scrutinise them. The note has been received and circulated. As these regulations are made under the European Communities Act 1972, they can be annulled by the Houses within one year of being made but the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs must make a recommendation to do so. This committee, therefore, also formed the view that if the regulations were to be annulled, it would not only have to persuade the House of that view but also the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs. Having reviewed the briefing notes, do members want the committee to consider the statutory instrument? They are contained in the letter dated 1 July from the Department of Finance. It is signed by Colm Breslin, principal officer.