Amendments Nos. 2, 6 and 14 refer essentially to the same issue. They propose similar amendments to sections 4, 15 and 29. The power to make an order or orders is provided in sections 1, 9, 10, 11, 15 and 23.
Section 1 provides for commencement orders. These are not usually laid before the Oireachtas. Section 9 provides for the Minister to set by order the date of withdrawal of legal tender status of Irish pound notes and coins. The major import of the comments made by Deputies Noonan and Deenihan relate to that aspect. Section 10 provides for the Minister to designate by order persons who may be obliged to accept more than 50 coins in a single transaction, and by order to revoke or amend orders made under that section.
Section 11 provides for the Minister to set out by order the technical specifications of coins denominated in euros, provided these comply with the harmonised specifications agreed by the Council, and by order to revoke or amend orders made under that section.
Section 15 empowers the Minister to call in coins by order. Section 23 provides that the Minister may by order on such date or dates and under such terms and conditions as he or she determines, redenominate into euros all or part of the outstanding debt issued by or on behalf of the State under Irish law and denominated in Irish pounds. Power to make regulations is provided under section 29 also, which provides that the Minister may make regulations for the purpose of enabling Part II of the Bill to have full effect.
Section 4 deals with the laying of regulations and orders before the Houses of the Oireachtas. It aims to provide inter alia that if within 21 sitting days either House of the Oireachtas passes a regulation annulling the regulation or order made under the Act, other than the commencement order or an order under section 15, the regulation or order will be annulled accordingly. This is a standard provision which gives the Oireachtas an appropriate role in relation to regulations or orders made under the Act.
Section 15 deals with calling in coins. It makes the same provision from the coming into operation and the laying before the Oireachtas of calling in orders as currently applies to such orders under section 12 of the Decimal Currency Act, 1969. In particular, it provides that a calling in order must be made at least six months before the withdrawal date and that if either House of the Oireachtas passes a resolution annulling the order before that date the order will be annulled accordingly.
Section 29 empowers the Minister for Finance to make regulations for enabling Part II of the Bill to have full effect. The provisions of section 4 would apply to any regulations made under section 29.
The provisions of sections 4 and 15 provide adequately for the Oireachtas to take an appropriate role in relation to regulations and orders if either House sees fit to do so. This is especially so, given that the power to make such regulations and orders will, assuming passage of the Bill, already have been vested in the Minister by the Oireachtas.
Deputy Noonan's amendments would require the Oireachtas to pass an Act within six months to include every regulation or order made under the Bill. I could not agree to such a requirement. It would be undesirable, both in principle and in practice.
In principle, it would effectively remove the point of allowing secondary legislation because it would require the passage of primary legislation to cover points which the Oireachtas had otherwise agreed to delegate to ministerial action by way of secondary legislation. In practice, the requirement would tend to generate uncertainty about whether a measure decided by the Minister would be confirmed in primary legislation or would be confirmed in time. Such uncertainty would be particularly inappropriate in a Bill whose aim is to increase certainty for economic agents as we approach EMU and the changeover to the euro, not to generate uncertainty.
By contrast, provisions in the Bill represent an appropriate balance. They allow the Minister to take decisions on certain matters within the parameters laid down by the Oireachtas in the primary legislation and give considerable certainty that such decisions will stand. They also provide for appropriate control by the Oireachtas, in that they allow either House to annul the ministerial regulation or order by a resolution of that House. In other words, they provide for confidence by economic agents in the durability of the Minister's decisions as expressed through regulations or orders, while allowing the Oireachtas to overturn them if that is warranted. In the circumstances, I cannot accept the amendments.
Deputy Noonan made the point that it would be desirable to have more debate on EMU in the period from 1 January 1999 to 1 January 2002, with which I agree. I can see many devices the Oireachtas might use to allow debates on this in that three year period. Depending on how matters are at the time I would have no objections to debates on progress towards monetary union leading to 1 January 2002 or on the decision to withdraw notes and coins. It is impossible to predict now how matters will stand then, but I have no objection in principle to having such debates, as they should lead to greater public awareness.
Monetary union has been debated in the Oireachtas in recent years by sub-committees. The chairman's predecessor, Deputy Jim Mitchell, commented strongly in the Dáil on the lack of media coverage of the affairs of the sub-committee of the Select Committee on Finance and General Affairs in the last Dáil. Many experts gave their opinions to that sub-committee but there was very little media coverage of those meetings. There was a debate on monetary union in this committee last February; in March during the debate on the Central Bank Bill; in the Dáil and Seanad in April and I attended a meeting of the Joint Committee on Small Business and Services yesterday for another debate on monetary union. The topic will also be debated next week in the Seanad.
Deputy Noonan referred to one of the orders which provides that one need not go to 30 June for the withdrawal of notes and coins. Who knows who the Minister for Finance will be in 2002? If it is not me I can think of no better person than Deputy Noonan. Whoever the Minister of Finance will be, if a decision is to be made on coin and note withdrawal during those six months, he or she should signal that in plenty of time to enable debate to take place on the matter. It is not necessary to change the whole principle of giving regulatory powers to the Minister and accept the Deputy's amendments to allow such a debate to take place. The Deputy will be aware of many debates in the Oireachtas over the years about giving Ministers regulatory powers. It has also been a feature of some court cases. For reasons of both principle and practice I cannot accept these amendments.