Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform

National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage

3:40 pm

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Notwithstanding the Chairman's attitude, I will make the point I was going to make, which is that the Minister acknowledged the problem with regulators can be that the Government of the day, which writes the legislation for a regulator, can often be at fault in the failures of the regulator. In so far as this section sets out the framework around which a regulator can be made accountable for what he or she should do and can be removed from office if he or he is not doing it, it states he or she can be removed if he or she is unable to carry out his or her duties due to ill-health or if there is misbehaviour, but it does not mention circumstances in which he or she is not regulating properly. It should be more specific in terms of what we consider the effective functioning of the office and if he or she is not doing it properly. There is no provision for removing the regulator if he or she is not regulating as he or she should be. I do not how one would word that. I do not have a wording off the top of my head.