Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

It worries me that the solution in almost every area is to get a regulator. This brings up a mass of issues. It is worth posing questions about the quality of decisions. Things have become more complex. Is the quality of decisions much greater than it used to be? The issue is complex and I accept that in some areas there is a huge amount of data, presentations and issues.

We cannot have a regulator in every single area and will have to try to give regulators multiple roles. Even if the population in 15 years is 5 million, it will not be huge. Do we need to end up with 30 or 40 regulators? I doubt it so there is merit in the super-regulator idea. I assure Deputy Kenny that the issue is being addressed by the better regulation group.

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