Mr. Paul Lemass:

I thank the Acting Chairman. The first thing to say is that we would see that the sector is regulated at the moment but it is done on a voluntary basis. We would consider that the voluntary regulation has been very effective. It has established standards for finance, governance and performance and it has withheld approval from that assessment process for a range of AHBs. That has directly led to improved performance and compliance by AHBs. I would argue strongly that the voluntary system has worked quite well at getting AHBs aware of the need to be compliant and of, frankly, upping their game in order that the transition to a statutory system will not be such a leap. In many ways, we can treat it as a virtue that, having had this Bill rocking around for four or five years, we have a voluntary scheme in place that has upped the game of AHBs consistently over the past four years to the point that only 11 are still in engagement and awaiting a satisfactory outcome out of the 260 or so that are registered under the voluntary code. It is important to recognise that it is not an unregulated sector.

The regulations are not on a statutory basis, but there is a voluntary system that is working very well. That voluntary system also informs funding through a circular from the Department which talks about the need for a satisfactory assessment. As such, there is a linkage between funding and compliance with the voluntary code.