Parliamentary Questions

45. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the legislative proposals published by her Department between 2011 to 2016 that underwent a regulatory impact assessment; the legislative proposals published by her Department that did not undergo a regulatory impact assessment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11156/17]

46. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if regulatory impact assessments for legislative proposals published by her Department include impacts (details supplied); the impact categories not included; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11171/17]

Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality (Deputy Frances Fitzgerald): I propose to take Questions Nos. 45 and 46 together.
The information requested by the Deputy is provided in the following table. I am informed that the preparation of each Regulatory Impact Assessment is guided by the Department of the Taoiseach's Revised RIA Guidelines. The guidelines state that the following impacts must be considered as part of the process:
- National competitiveness
- The socially excluded and vulnerable groups
- The environment
- Whether there is a significant policy change in an economic market, including consumer and competition impacts
- The rights of citizens
- Compliance Burden
- North-South and East-West Relations.
However, this list is indicative only and if other specific impacts arise in the context of proposals, these also fall to be considered as part of the process. In addition, not all impacts are relevant to every legislative proposal/RIA and so they are only applied as considered relevant to each case. The guidelines also set out the various exceptions to the requirement for a Regulatory Impact Assessment. If the Deputy requires further detail regarding the relevant impacts considered in respect of any specific RIA, the published documents are available on my Department’s website www.justice.ie.