Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

There is a process in place regarding the reduction of administrative burdens and a group on business regulation is chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. It has set out a programme of work that would seek to reduce the regulatory and administrative burden significantly.

The question of regulation constantly arises. On the one hand, one needs efficient and effective public administration in the interests of public accountability and to avoid arbitrary decision making. On the other hand, as one sought to address business issues in the financial services area and Ireland sought a competitive advantage creating employment in that area, light touch regulation brought its own difficulties when wider issues came into play when the whole financial market almost came to collapse.

One sees in EU regulatory discussions and wider discussions with other financial markets and regulatory authorities, the need to ensure a greater degree of oversight and accountability in that area, given that what was seen as financial innovation increased risk factors and brought about a situation where the whole remuneration structure and the means by which financial services were applied meant that we saw a lot of activity that increased the risk of what happened happening. By the time regulatory authorities get to the point where they know what is going on, the harm is done and we then must deal with the impact and retrieve the situation, often causing great economic disturbance and turmoil.

The question of finding the right level of effective regulation is an important principle of public accountability but by the same token we must avoid and deal with instances where bureaucratic procedures are built up over time that fail to take account of the need for more expeditious responses to people's application or requirement for consent or approval to get on with doing their business.

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