Ms Clare McNamara:

We are not ruling out public bodies but we have to wait and see which bodies apply to be qualified entities once this comes into law. We do not know who is going to apply. If the State was funding a qualified entity, ultimately the State would be the de factoplaintiff in the case, not the qualified entity. The State cannot underwrite this. It would be a very risky thing for the State to be underwriting costs. The idea of this is not to have vexatious cases. It is under a very strict set of EU laws. The Deputy asked about limitation to actions. There is a limitation. It is listed in the schedule. Action can only be taken for breaches of a very specific set of consumer protection laws, which are all listed. There are 66 EU laws listed in the schedule. That is where the limitation applies. It is for breaches of consumer rights under those pieces of legislation.