Mr. Fergal O'Leary:

Absolutely, and they do. Looking at the situation across the water, there is a lot of this. There is the information, the adjudication and the investigations, and as we said in the statement, this costs £2 million per year. However, the scope is smaller. Something like this proposal, as we said, would probably involve 40 people. However, one would need a period of implementation and then escalation. When we get new functions, as we do, we first build a common level of understanding across a particular sector in order that everyone understands the rules. We spend probably a year or two doing that, after which everyone knows the rules. Then we start into the enforcement side of it, so this kind of regulatory model is something that is done over a period. The difficulty with this directive, though, is that it is hugely complex in what it allows. Ten areas are blacklisted such as payment after 30 days or payment after 60 days. Then one gets into a list of, I think, six areas that are called greylisted. They are only allowed if they have been agreed in advance. Again, each individual entity that will be under the onus of these regulations will have to understand what is and is not allowed. This is a significant educational challenge and will take a couple of years to do. Then there are issues such as mediation - who one goes to and what kind of information one needs before going to them. Afterwards there is the idea of enforcement. From our point of view, looking at this, we do not believe an impact analysis for Ireland has been carried out yet, so this is all still open to scrutiny, but one needs people in regional locations across the country.

They need to advise people on what is or is not allowed, and when there is a well-founded problem, who to go to and what can be offered in terms of mediation or redress.