I move:
(1) That a Select Committee be appointed to consider every Statutory Instrument laid or laid in draft before Seanad Éireann, in pursuance of a statutory requirement with a view to determining whether the special attention of Seanad Éireann should be drawn to it on any of the following grounds:—
(i) that it imposes a charge on the public revenues or contains provisions requiring payments to be made to the Exchequer or any Government Department or to any local or public authority in consideration of any licence or consent, or of any services to be rendered or prescribes the amount of any such charge or payments;
(ii) that it appears to make some unusual or unexpected use of the powers conferred by the Statute under which it is made;
(iii) that it purports to have retrospective effect where the parent Statute confers no express authority so to provide;
(iv) that there appears to have been unjustifiable delay either in the laying of it before Seanad Éireann or in its publication;
(v) that for any special reason its form or purport calls for elucidation;
(vi) that its drafting appears to be defective; or
on any other ground which does not impinge on its merits or on the policy behind it.
(2) That the Select Committee consist of nine members of whom three shall form a quorum.
(3) That the Select Committee have power to report from time to time and to require any Government Department or other instrument making authority concerned to submit a memorandum explaining any Statutory Instrument which may be under their consideration or to depute a representative to appear before them as a witness for the purpose of explaining any such Statutory Instrument.
(4) That it be the duty of the Committee before reporting that the special attention of Seanad Éireann should be drawn to any Statutory Instrument to afford to any Government Department or other instrument making authority concerned therewith an opportunity of furnishing orally or in writing such explanations as the Department or authority may think fit and the Select Committee have power to report to Seanad Éireann from time to time, any memoranda submitted or other evidence given to them in explanation of any Statutory Instrument.
This is a Committee which is set up by the Seanad on each occasion when there is a new Seanad. I have pleasure in moving this motion because it is very important that the Seanad continues to provide the technical scrutiny of statutory instruments made under an Act of Parliament and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. I am pleased to move this motion before the House rises in order that this important work can be carried out during the summer, so that the instruments can be processed in this way and so that the Committee can meet on the first occasion after the recess and have a number of statutory instruments to consider.
I should like to refer to the wording of the motion because it is slightly modified from the wording which was contained in previous motions. The committee is "appointed to consider every statutory instrument laid or laid in draft before Seanad Éireann" and then can draw the attention of the Seanad to the instruments on any of the following grounds, which are very precise:
(i) that it imposes a charge on the public revenues or contains provisions requiring payments to be made to the Exchequer or any Government Department or to any local or public authority in consideration of any licence or consent, or of any services to be rendered or prescribes the amount of any such charge or payments;
(ii) that it appears to make some unusual or unexpected use of the powers conferred by the Statute under which it is made;
(iii) that it purports to have retrospective effect where the parent Statute confers no express authority so to provide;
(iv) that there appears to have been unjustifiable delay either in the laying of it before Seanad Éireann or in its publication;
(v) that for any special reason its form or purport calls for elucidation;.
The sixth ground is a new ground although it is a matter with which the Seanad Committee on Statutory Instruments has been dealing.
(vi) that its drafting appears to be defective;...
This is based on the experience of both the officials who have worked with the Committee and my own experience, as a member of the previous Committee. A great deal of the work of the Committee involves examination of defective drafting. This had to be fitted in under the other precise headings. It is certainly within the terms of reference of this Committee that it looks at any aspect of statutory instruments other than the merits. It seemed to be clearer to add a precise subheading to the effect that we would look at the drafting if it appeared to be defective.
The next line is also a new reference. Again, to make the Committee's functioning more efficient it would look at "any other ground which does not impinge on its merits or on the policy behind it". This is a catch-all provision that the Committee either looks at the very precise grounds contained in subparagraphs (i) to (vi) or has this general provision on any other ground which does not impinge on its merits or on the policy behind the instrument. The question of the merits and the policy behind it are, of course, matters for the Houses of Parliament when the parent Act is being debated. The other parts of the motion in relation to the membership and to the right to report are the standard procedures.
I should like to make some comment on the role of the Committee on Statutory Instruments. I think this Committee is highly necessary when so much power is given to Ministers to make orders and instruments under the parent Acts. It is one of the quiet, solid Committees which does not get very much credit, which rarely has its report debated on the floor of the House but which does have an impact. On that point, I think it would be valuable to reconsider the nature of this Committee or, alternatively, to consider setting up a new Joint Committee to consider the merits as well of statutory instruments and to have power to make amendments.
This would be an innovation and a departure from the present scope of the Seanad Committee on Statutory Instruments. But we have, in fact, just created a precedent in setting up the Committee on European Secondary Legislation. This Committee has a much broader role than we have allowed for examination of our secondary legislation. It would be valuable to view the Committee on European Secondary Legislation in practice and to consider the possibility of constituting a Joint Committee of both Houses which could go into the merits and look in a fuller way at the statutory instruments.
There is a very large number of statutory instruments each year. They have a very significant impact on every aspect of Irish life and there is an increasing tendency for the parent Act to be merely the framework and for very many of the important provisions to be contained in statutory instruments. It is not sufficient to look only at the technical aspects although this is a very important function. The Seanad Committee performs an important task here and it is the appropriate House of the Oireachtas to do this because we have more time to serve on this Committee and the House would have more time to consider the reports of the Committee. I would hope that some of these reports will be discussed on the floor of the House during the coming session.
The final point I should like to make in relation to this Committee —it is in the nature of an exhortation —is that the staffing position be improved. On the last Committee on Statutory Instruments the official who was working with the Committee was doing his personal best to fulfil the tasks of the Committee but he had very many other calls on his time. The Committee, therefore, did not sit with sufficient regularity or have sufficient back-up clerical service which it needs in order to perform a proper role. In moving this motion I should like to ask that consideration be given to providing a full-time official to this Committee in order that they may perform their functions effectively.