I move amendment No. 46: In page 27, after line 34, to insert the following: “Commission to monitor providers’ compliance with high-risk vendor measures 33 . (1) The Commission shall take reasonable steps to monitor providers’ compliance with high-risk vendor measures. (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the Commission may serve a direction on a provider which may require the provider to do one or more of the following: (a) to provide information needed to assess whether a provider has complied with a high-risk…

I move amendment No. 47: In page 27, after line 34, to insert the following: “Review of operation of Part 34. The Minister shall— (a) not later than the end of the period of 2 years beginning on the day on which this Act is passed, commence a review of the operation of this Part, and (b) not later than 12 months after the end of the period of 2 years referred to in paragraph (a), make a report to each House of the Oireachtas of the findings made on such review and of the conclusions drawn from those findings.”.

I move amendment No. 48: In page 32, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following: “ “Act of 2022” means the Consumer Rights Act 2022;”. These amendments were flagged on Committee Stage and they refer to alternative dispute resolution procedures. These amendments amend sections 38 to 40, inclusive, of the Bill. The intention of these amendments is to broaden the definition of relevant dispute under section 38 to ensure that Article 25 of the code is adequately transposed, to preserve existing provisions and to …

I move amendment No. 49: In page 33, to delete lines 1 to 3 and substitute the following: “(b) a dispute between an end-user and a provider, arising under this Act or the Code Regulations, relating to contractual conditions or the performance of contracts (whether entered into or not),”.

I move amendment No. 50: In page 33, line 7, to delete “Regulation, and” and substitute the following: “Regulation, (e) a dispute between an end-user and a provider relating to the imposition or purported imposition of a charge referred to in section 45 of the Principal Act, (f) a dispute between a consumer, within the meaning of the Act of 2022, and a trader, within the meaning of the Act of 2022, who is also a provider, relating to Part 5 (other than sections 119, 120 and 125) of the Act of 2022, and”

I move amendment No. 51: In page 33, line 28, to delete “of electronic communications networks or services”.

I move amendment No. 52: In page 33, line 30, after “settling” to insert “relevant”.

I move amendment No. 53: In page 33, lines 30 and 31, to delete “with end-users relating to the contractual conditions or performance of contracts (whether entered into or not)”.

I move amendment No. 54: In page 34, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: “(3) The Commission may specify requirements to be met for the purpose of ensuring compliance with subsection (1) and the manner of publication of a code of practice referred to in that subsection including, without limitation, any requirements to ensure that the code of practice and procedures for dealing with complaints and settling disputes are fair, prompt, transparent, inexpensive and non-discriminatory.”. This amendment was…

I move amendment No. 55: In page 41, to delete lines 23 and 24 and substitute “or either such decision;”. This is a minor technical and textual amendment that tidies up the original drafting language in section 57, which comprises the interpretation to Part 7. It makes no material change to the substance of the Bill, however.

I move amendment No. 56: In page 48, line 4, before “refer” to insert “subject to subsection (4) ,”. The purpose of these amendments is to tidy up language in section 66, relating to settlements. The changes are purely technical in nature and merely seek to remove repetition from the section as originally drafted, as well as tidying up some cross-referencing. There has been no change in policy.

I move amendment No. 57: In page 48, to delete lines 5 to 14 and substitute the following: “(4) Where at the time the notified person is given a copy of the report in accordance with subsection (3)(b) where the matter has been referred for adjudication under section 67(b) — (a) the authorised officer shall notify the adjudicator concerned of the withdrawal of the referral under section 67(b) , and (b) the matter shall be deemed to have been referred to an adjudicator under subsection 3(c) for an adjudication on con…

I move amendment No. 58: In page 48, line 15, after “following” to insert “the confirmation of”.

I move amendment No. 59: In page 48, line 19, after “consent” to insert “confirmed”.

I move amendment No. 60: In page 96, after line 17, to insert the following: “PART 10 AMENDMENTS TO DIGITAL HUB DEVELOPMENT AGENCY ACT 2003 Amendment of Digital Hub Development Agency Act 2003 133. The Digital Hub Development Agency Act 2003 is amended— (a) in section 15(1), by the substitution of “8 members” for “14 members”, and (b) in section 17(3), by the substitution of “4” for “6”.”.

I move amendment No. 61: In page 96, after line 17, to insert the following: “PART 11 AMENDMENT TO POSTAL AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES ACT 1983 Financing for the purposes of maintaining post office network and countering consequences of Brexit 134. The Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 29: “29A. (1) The Minister may, out of such monies as are available to him or her from monies provided by the Oireachtas, with the consent of the Min…

The objective of the inflation-supply chain delay co-operation framework is to safeguard public projects that were under construction or tendered in advance of the onset of the exceptional inflation in the price of construction materials, fuel and electricity. The framework facilitates both parties to a public works contract to engage with one another to address the impacts of exceptional inflation and supply chain disruption and operates on an ex gratia basis. The framework sets down the approaches and parameters …

As the Deputy said, we looked at fuel price inflation, as well as at materials, the dramatic increases in construction prices, material inflation and supply chain disruption. In many cases, builders could not get the materials required. We are not centrally collating the increase in the cost of these contracts. We have said each contracting authority is responsible for paying for its own increase out of its existing allocated budget so there is not an overall increase in the budget across government. We do not have…

The important principle is that the contracting authorities are responsible for their own budgets and responses. The Accounting Officer in each case is responsible for monitoring its own expenditure. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform does not operate as a monitoring agency at a micro-management level to make sure that each contracting authority operates within its own budget. Each has a set budget on which there are ceilings and they have to operate within them. However, they are delegated the power t…

The Bill is about the security of supply of oil. Members will be aware of the continued importance of security of oil supplies. While we continue to transition to the increased use of renewable fuels and electrification in both the transport and heating sectors it is vital that we maintain our oil supplies. It is worth highlighting that the main purpose of the Bill is to strengthen the Government’s ability to manage stocks in the unlikely event of a curtailment of oil supplies. There is no such concern or risk at p…