David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

According to the general scheme, a qualified entity has to have "12 months of actual public activity in the protection of consumer interests prior to its application for designation" and "a legitimate interest in protecting consumer interests", be "independent and not influenced by persons other than consumers" and be not-for-profit. What Deputy Bruton has been alluding to, and I am puzzled by this as well, is how, if these are the criteria under which they have become qualified entities, they can take a case if they have no money or not enough funding behind them to be certain they can pay up if they lose. The chances seem to be very slim, and there are other things they can do as well like pre-litigation and alternative dispute resolutions and so forth, but on the off chance one of these cases was lost, who pays if they do not have the funding?