I move amendment No. 1:
To add to the section a new subsection as follows:
"( ) A regulation shall not be made under subsection (2) of this section until a draft thereof has been approved by resolution of each House of the Oireachtas."
Earlier this evening on the Performers' Protection Bill I adverted to the section of the Bill where the Government was to make an Order applying the Act to foreign countries. I felt that was the kind of Order which should certainly be laid before each House of the Oireachtas. In this case what the Minister is in substance seeking power to do is to enable himself by regulation to amend the definition of "motor vehicle" which in subsection (1) of section 1 is defined in extenso, I quite agree that there are cases where it is necessary to implement sections of a Bill by regulation, to make Orders, and that a sufficient safeguard is provided if those regulations and orders are laid before each House of the Oireachtas. However, when it comes to amending the substance of a Bill, where it is extending or restricting or adding to, I think that such amendments ought not to be carried out merely by a regulation to be made by the Minister and laid before each House of the Oireachtas.
The practice has grown up and is clearly embodied in the legislation of this county. One finds it frequently in the Social Welfare Acts, certainly it is in several places in the Social Welfare Act of 1952 that where it is necessary to modify the provisions of a section of the Bill, not merely to implement it, that power is taken to do it by order or by regulation subject to the provision that a draft of the regulation is laid before each House of the Oireachtas and a resolution approving of the draft must be passed and then the Minister can amend. That seems to me to be the kind of case we have here in subsection (2) where the Minister is going to extend or restrict the definition of "motor vehicle" which is actually part of the legislation. One has only to look at the space that is taken up by it. It runs from line 16 to line 32, sixteen lines, and the Minister proposes to amend this subsection merely by a regulation. I do not think this is right or proper and I think that a draft of the regulations should first be approved by each House of the Oireachtas merely for the sake of maintaining the authority of Parliament over legislation. I do not want to repeat myself. I have no objection to implementing legislation by regulation but I do object, and I think the Minister and many others would agree with me, that we ought not to amend legislation simply by regulation.
I hope the Minister will accept this amendment and that the House will accept it. I should say that in practice and experience an amendment of legislation by the draft order procedure has never given rise to any delay whatever. I have never known of any protracted debate. There has been some debate and this has been useful on occasions in enabling the Minister to make a statement from a position where he would not be able to command the public attention with the same effectiveness that a regulation would command. I think there is no loss at all to ministerial power or ministerial influence by adopting the procedure suggested in my amendment.