Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 June 2008
225 Deputy Leo Varadkar asked the Minister for Health and Children the occasions on which she did not carry out any form of regulatory impact analysis on statutory instruments, Bills and EU directives for the years 2006, 2007 and to date in 2008; the reason for this decision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23870/08]
Amharc ar fhreagra283 Deputy Leo Varadkar asked the Minister for Health and Children the occasions on which her Department has carried out a screening regulatory impact analysis on Statutory Instruments, Bills and EU Directives in the years 2006, 2007 and to date in 2008; the occasions on which they have subsequently decided not to carry out a full regulatory impact analysis; the reason this decision was made in each case; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22686/08]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 225 and 283 together.
Details of regulatory impact assessments carried out by my Department in respect of Bills for the period in question are set out below. Information in relation to regulations and orders is being compiled by my Department and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible:
|
Details of legislation, relevant Statutory Instrument, Bill or EU Directive. |
Screening or Full Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) |
Comment |
|
Health (Repayment Scheme) Bill 2006 |
Screening RIA |
The draft legislation was at an advanced stage and there was an urgent need for a statutory repayment scheme to be put in place. |
|
Health Act 2007; Establishment of the Health Information and Quality Authority and the Office of the Chief Inspector of Social Services |
Screening RIA |
It was considered that a screening RIA was sufficient for this legislation. |
|
Pharmacy Bill |
Screening RIA |
The subject matter of the Bill was drafted to reflect the results of the Pharmacy Review Group’s (PRG) Report. This Report had explored the options and consequences of proposals to update the regulatory regime for pharmacy and used techniques which are similar to an RIA analysis. As the Bill did not reflect a significant change to the recommendations of the PRG Report it was considered that a screening RIA would meet the requirements. |
|
Heads of Nursing Home Support Scheme Bill (A Fair Deal) |
Screening RIA |
A Fair deal was already the subject of considerable analysis and deliberation by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Long Term Care. It was announced in 2006 and the subject of meetings of many stakeholder groups. Since December 2006 the Department has met groups and organisations including the National Federation of Pensioners Association, the Irish Farmers Association, the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament and the Social Partners. The Department also attended Irish Senior Citizens Parliament’s AGM, at it’s request, and participated in a workshop on the scheme. Further conferral on the scheme will take place under the auspices of Towards 2016 on publication of the Bill. |
|
Health (Nursing Homes) (Amendment) Bill, 2006 |
Screening RIA |
As this Bill provided for the transposition of secondary legislation into primary legislation, it was considered that a screening RIA was sufficient. |
|
Child Care (Amendment ) Bill |
Screening RIA |
The screening Regulatory Impact Assessment found that there would be negligible impacts as the objective of the Bill is to put a statutory framework in place for the High Court to deal with special care cases, in place of the current system whereby the High Court deals with proceedings of this nature under its inherent jurisdiction. For this reason, it was decided that a full Regulatory Impact Assessment would not be required. |
Occasions where regulatory impact assessments were not carried out were as follows:
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Details of legislation, relevant Statutory Instrument, Bill or EU Directive. |
Reason(s) why Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) was not carried out. |
|
Health Insurance (Amendment) Act 2007 and related regulations |
This was emergency legislation that reflected an earlier White Paper on Health Insurance and advices of the Health Insurance Authority. |
|
Irish Medicines Board (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006 — SI No. 3 of 2006 which provided for changes to the functions/operation of the IMB |
The Government Decision to draft the Bill was taken in September 2004 and therefore predated the introduction of RIA. |
|
Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2007 |
Urgent legislation was required on the advice of the Attorney General to confirm establishment orders for existing bodies established by SI under the Health (Corporate Bodies) Act 1961 and the validity of actions carried out by dissolved bodies. Establishment orders were also updated to reflect the role of the HSE. Given the urgency of the confirmation provisions, an RIA was not possible in the time available. |
|
Details of legislation, relevant Statutory Instrument, Bill or EU Directive. |
Reason(s) why Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) was not carried out. |
|
Part 14 of the Health Act 2007 amended the Health Act 2004 by the insertion of a new Part, part 9A to provide for the protected disclosure of information in the health service (whistleblowing) |
The decision to avail of the Health Act 2007 to amend the Health Act 2004 to provide for whistleblowing in the health service reflects Government policy agreed in 2006 to provide for whistleblowing in legislation on a sector by sector basis and as soon as practicable. The Health Act 2007 presented the first opportunity to meet this objective in regard to the health service. However, due to time constraints, it was not feasible to conduct an RIA on this aspect of the Act. |
