Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The subsection states: "The amount of levy under this section shall be decided by the Regulator." The Minister has just said that he is deleting that line and that this will be covered by the licence agreement which means that the person bidding for the licence will know the amount of the levy he or she will have to pay. I am most unhappy with that because it is bad enough setting up a new quango but to give the head of the quango a blank cheque on which he can write any figure the regulator decides by way of the levy payable to keep him and his office in existence is completely wrong. I ask the Minister to take on board the remarks I made about this on Second Stage because there is no balance in this situation. The regulator will decide on the scale of the office, the length of the lease and how many millions of euro he or she will spend and then will say "I have a lovely big office and operation and need a lot of money for contingencies and I would like plenty in reserve in case of legal fees and court challenges arising so I will set a high levy." The regulator should not be allowed to set the levy because it will be completing a blank cheque to pay for its own operation. The Minister rather than the regulator should set the levy. The Minister has gone in the opposite direction. He is removing the subsection, saying it is not necessary because the regulator will decide the levy and it will be in the tender document for the licence. I want somebody other than the regulator to decide its big fat budget. Does the Minister understand my point?