asked the Minister for Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism if he has yet decided to establish an Irish standards council to advise on a whole new range of necessary Irish standards and a method of implementation of these standards.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - National Standards Authority.
16.
I have requested the Board of the Institute for Industrial Research and Standards to establish a National Standards Authority.
The Authority will be responsible for the formulation of promotion of Irish standards. The precise terms of reference for the Authority are being worked out at present.
Will the board of the Institute for Industrial Research and Standards as we know it be merged with the National Board for Science and Technology?
The idea is that there would legally be two boards but that the same people would be members of each board and that they would perform legally separate functions. Basically all they would have in common would be personnel.
Are we going to have another institution set up and will the present two institutions remain with the same people serving on all of them?
The standards authority would be within the IIRS structure and would not involve any significant additional costs. The Deputy will appreciate that there is a need to promote the setting of Irish standards and I am glad to say that I have signed about six or seven standards in the last month which is an improvement.