Mr. Patrick O'Connor:

I thank Deputy Brophy for his kind regards.

We want to keep the process as simple as possible. We are going to be confined, it seems to me, by section 39 of the Act which sets out whether a charity can be registered. I would expect the regulator to be fair in its procedures and to be very careful. The regulator must give a reasoned decision as to why an application is being refused. If there is a refusal and an appeal, obviously the reasons given and the whole process will have to be considered by my office. We want to keep it as simple as possible but at the same time we must be accountable and, more importantly, fair. We do not want to start off with a situation where there is a judicial review of a decision of ours simply because we did not follow fair procedures.

To answer the specific question, there would be a formal notice of appeal. I would not expect that there would be too much detail in it. The grounds on which the appeal is taken should be set out, but not too legalistically, as well as the reasons that the applicant feels the appeal should succeed.