Mr. William Beausang:

Obviously, the purpose of the pre-legislative scrutiny is to hear people's views. I know that the Minister was very keen for us to make the point that the pre-legislative scrutiny of things like the protected disclosures legislation was very useful in helping to develop, refine and improve that legislation. The only comment I will make about the specific issue is that part of the problem with the existing regime is the large number of individuals who are subject to the same requirement in a way that is not proportionate and graduated and does not relate to the conflict of interest risks that are there. In looking at the international evidence and discussing it with the Minister, our assessment was that in a situation where everybody is subject to the same requirements, the ability of the regulatory system to focus on the risk areas and adopt a proportionate approach to where the risk of conflict of interest and corruption is greatest is diminished. There is a balance to be struck in terms of the scope of legislation. We have already referred to the fact that a graduated approach is adopted within the legislation itself. The Deputy already made the point that he is concerned that where the Government has drawn the line is not right in respect of principal officers and other senior officials. An approach has been taken here where there are three categories of public officials. As the Deputy pointed out, those in category A are subject to the most stringent requirements. Those in category B are subject to less stringent requirements, although they are still quite significant. Category C encompasses the generality of public servants who will be subject to important requirements and codes of practice. There is a balance in terms of ensuring that the regulator is not receiving a huge volume of returns and has a huge scope of responsibilities. This means that the regulator cannot be efficient in the way it monitors and oversees the scheme. That is just a general observation in respect of the point raised by the Deputy.