In the Seanad on Friday (25th September) Senator Michael McDowell called on Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly to come before the House for a debate on proper parliamentary consideration of Covid-19 measures introduced under the Health Act 1947. He noted that “under the Health Act 1947, the Government should be in a position to make those regulations on an emergency basis, but the regulations should be required to be given a positive consideration by each House of the Oireachtas for them to last a considerable period”.
“I am not trying to ape Westminster” he continued, “but I notice that MPs on all sides in Westminster are now coming to the conclusion that they are excluded from considering the merits, proportionality or reasonableness of the regulations and are not in a position to deal with the fairness or unfairness of some of them.” Addressing the acting Leader of the House Senator Lisa Chambers he said “We are now living in a system of government by decree. We live in a parliamentary democracy and the very least we can do, and should do, is to amend the Health Act 1947 to provide that if something drastic has to happen immediately in Dublin, or wherever, to cope with a crisis arising from Covid-19, it can be done, but the regulations, if they are to endure beyond a certain period of time, need a positive consideration by both Houses of the Oireachtas”.
He concluded that it seemed a reasonable thing to ask so that we do not just carry on with government by decree and requested that the Leader ask the Minister for Health to come before the Upper House to debate amending the Health Act 1947 to provide for such parliamentary scrutiny.
In response, the Fianna Fáil Leader Senator Lisa Chambers welcomed “Senator McDowell’s very interesting suggestion in terms of amendments to the Health Act 1947.” Senator Chambers said that despite the fact that Covid-19 has thrown new issues at the country that we have never previously dealt with, “we should be concerned at regulations that are imposed for the longer term without adequate debate.” She noted that “there must be flexibility within government to deal with emergencies” but agreed with Senator McDowell’s “very wise suggestion” to call on the Minister for Health to attend the House to debate the issues and would call on her party colleague Minister Stephen Donnelly to do so.
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