Ms Isolde Goggin:

The phrase I should have used earlier was "legal certainty". We are talking about major firms that have legal advisers. They will not be advised to enter a leniency programme unless the organisation can provide legal certainty as to what will happen to them at the end. We see this as a huge issue in ensuring that the leniency programme actually becomes effective.

On the point about weak consumer protections, I would not see this legislation as being particularly relevant in that area. There is a raft of consumer protection legislation coming down the tracks with a substantial amount of consumer protection regulations and directives coming through from Brussels at the moment, which we are working our way through with the Department. I imagine that many of those will come before the committee in due course. Those regulations reflect what Deputy Bruton said about the generally weak level of consumer protections. It is about trying to get a level of protection that is the same across the European Union, and which enables agencies like ours to move more quickly and with a greater degree of certainty.