We have had an opportunity to deliberate on the petitions before us and we will deal, one by one, with our recommendations in respect of them. Petition No. P00007/13 is from Mr. Paddy Lambe in respect of concerns over inappropriate standards related to dive industry legislation. What do the members believe we should do in the context of a recommendations on this petition?
Public Petitions: Discussion
It is recommended that the matter be referred to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the Health and Safety Authority liaison unit within the Department for consideration and report back to the committee in the context of their deliberation on the proposed new regulations which are being drafted.
Is that agreed? Agreed. Petition No. P00051/12 is from Mr. Michael Callanan in respect of concerns with regard to fishing legislation decisions. The recommendation in this regard is that we should forward the correspondence received from the Department, along with a copy of the value for money review and the brochure on the 2008 decommissioning scheme, to the petitioner for his information and that the petition is closed. Is that agreed? Agreed.
The next petition is Petition No. P00062/12 from Dr. Clara Fischer which calls on the Government to introduce equality budgeting. Do members want to make a recommendation? In terms of what we have recommended, we will ask the Department of Finance to revert to us clarifying whether consideration has been given to the introduction of equality budgeting. When we get that information, we can consider the next steps to take on the petition. Is that agreed? Agreed. I should have said that the petition on equality budgeting is from Dr. Clara Fischer, the Equality Budgeting Campaign and the associated non-governmental organisations which support it.
The final petition is Petition No. P00072/12 from Dr. Edward Horgan along with 19 associated petitioners regarding an investigation into United States military and alleged CIA use of Shannon Airport and Irish airspace. We have had a chance to deliberate on it and I open discussion on it by calling Senator Mulcahy.
I propose that we follow the recommendation to refer this petition to the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade seeking a specific report on the issues raised in it.
Is that agreed? Agreed. We can revisit it when we get that report. We will notify the petitioners of the actions we have agreed today and we will get back to them when we have further information. We will adjourn until 4 p.m. next Wednesday, 4 December 2013 when we will meet An Coimisinéir Teanga.
The joint committee adjourned at 5.05 p.m. until 4 p.m. on Wednesday, 4 December 2013.