Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 24 October 2019
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government
Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Discussion
Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source
My point is a different one, because I accept that. The issue is what is the threshold against which the regulator is allowed to take those various steps, particularly in terms of the investigations etc.? To simply use language, as it does in another section of the Bill, to the effect that the regulator is "of the opinion" is very broad. Surely, if the regulator is going to instigate an investigation into an approved housing body because it has information or evidence to suggest there was a problem, it should be that the regulator should have reasonable suspicion rather than just being "of the opinion" on something, because that opinion could be determined by the regulator just sitting on his or her own and deciding to do this investigation. There has to be some information he or she has which prompts him or her to act. That could be a third party complaint, for example. Does Mr. Lemass see the point I am making?
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