Donnelly can revoke regulations that established Cervical Check Tribunal
- Donnelly should revoke his regulations setting up the Tribunal.
- Legally wrong for Department to say it cannot be reversed.
- Power available under Section 22 of Interpretation Act to repeal S.I’s.
Responding to the statement by the Department of Health that the establishment of the Cervical Check Tribunal could not be reversed, Labour Leader Alan Kelly TD said:
“It is false for the Department of Health to claim that the establishment of the Cervical Check Tribunal cannot be reversed
“Under Section 22 of the Interpretation Act 2005 that outlines the way statutory instruments work, it is clear that the Ministwr has the power to repeal, revoke or amend any regulation he makes.
“Minister Donnelly should use his powers to reverse the establishment of the Tribunal and focus on addressing the legitimate concerns of the 221+ group before moving the issue on any further.
“As I said yesterday this is not acceptable what has happened, and the Minister should have taken the time as he pledged to do to facilitate further talks on the matter. It is disingenuous for him to claim that the tribunal has been paused when he has signed the order allowing it to officially commence.
“The victims of the cervical cancer have suffered enough because the state let them down, the least that Minister Donnelly could have done is dealt with the issues raised with him by the survivors before signing the order for the tribunal. They do not deserve to have to go through an aggressive tribunal against their wishes.”
ENDS
Notes to Editor:
Interpretation Act 2005, section 22 (3) says:
“A power conferred by an enactment to make a statutory instrument shall be read as including a power, exercisable in the like manner and subject to the like consent and conditions (if any), to repeal or amend a statutory instrument made under that power and (where required) to make another statutory instrument in place of the one so repealed”.