Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for their presentations. I will start by asking them their opinion on why the Government has adopted such a narrow approach to qualified entities. What is their attitude to whether the Government should have gone further, in particular on the question of the possibility of ad hocdesignation. It is clear in the directive that for domestic actions, member states could allow qualified entities on an ad hoc basis. My assumption in terms of what that would look like – I could be wrong, so I am interested in the guests describing it to me – is that an issue could emerge where, for example, a bunch of apartment owners across the State affected by the same issue want to take an action against a designated construction company, builder or whatever, and they form an association. There would then be some process whereby the State would determine that the association is a designated or qualified entity that can pursue an action on that basis. Is that what is meant in that regard? Do the witnesses have an opinion on why the Government has opted to take a much narrower approach by applying what is set out in the directive as the rule for cross-border actions to domestic actions as well? Should that be expanded? Our guests need not all rush at once to respond.