Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 November 2004
79 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he has plans to ensure that new legislation is business proofed in order to maintain Ireland’s international competitiveness and their growth and employment are protected in an increasingly competitive market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28349/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn January this year the Government launched a White Paper entitled Regulating Better which will contribute to improving national competitiveness and better Government by ensuring that new regulations — Acts and statutory instruments — are more rigorously assessed in terms of their impacts on jobs and growth as well as being more accessible and transparent. To achieve this the Government will make better use of research and analysis in both policy-making and policy implementation through regulatory impact assessment.
Regulatory impact assessment is an evidence-based approach that allows for the systematic consideration of the benefits and costs of a regulatory proposal to the economy and society. The Government will pilot a system of regulatory impact assessments, RIAs, in a number of Departments and following the pilot phase, RIAs will be integrated with existing procedures. Assistance is being provided to Departments during the piloting process by a designated official in the Department of the Taoiseach and by an economic consultant. A RIA steering group comprising officials from piloting Departments and Richard Boyle of the committee for public management research, CPMR, and chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach is overseeing the piloting process. RIAs will give special consideration to business impacts, especially in respect of small and medium enterprises.
The European Commission developed a model of impact assessment in 2002 integrating and replacing previous single sector assessments. Impact assessment was applied in 2003 to a selection of major proposals adopted by the Commission, that is, those listed in its annual policy strategy or its work programme.
At EU level, the Government is playing an active part at improving the regulatory environment for business through the better regulation agenda. At present the Council of the European Union is drawing up a priority list of EU regulations and directives for simplification which it is expected will have a positive impact on businesses throughout the EU. Better regulation is regarded as one of the methods of achieving the targets set in the Lisbon Agenda which is to make the EU the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. The European Commission also intends to introduce impact analysis for all Commission policy proposals and a revue of EU impact analysis guidelines is already under way.
The Government will improve the coherence of legislation through revision, restatement and repeal by ensuring greater consistency in the drafting of statutory instruments and maximising the use of IT and e-Government initiatives to improve clarity and accessibility of regulations. Regulatory impact assessments will add rigour and analytical capacity to the Irish policy-making process and will help to ensure that Ireland's international competitiveness is maintained while also contributing to growth and employment.
