Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Confrey will appreciate that we are being asked legally, as a committee, to do pre-legislative scrutiny and we have been asked to respond on the Bill. A lot of what is being proposed here is very welcome, but it is only welcome if it benefits the consumer and benefits the good providers. The legislation will not be published until April. I would expect that as part of our deliberations, once the Department has got the update from the Attorney General, it would advise us on whether changes are being proposed in the legislation, so we can, in the round, do a complete review of pre-legislative scrutiny.

As a committee, we have to be in command of all the facts when we are doing it. Otherwise, it is not pre-legislative scrutiny as it was intended. Is there anything within the legislation that ComReg feels is not being provided that it is looking for at the moment? Are the heads of Bill, as currently proposed, inadequate in any way, in terms of ComReg's dealings with the consumer side and others, in particular?