Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

Sinn Féin supports amendment No. 3 because the cost of regulation should be borne by the regulated bodies. We hardly need to point out the colossal costs which taxpayers must bear because of past regulatory failures. We do not want to see a repeat of that situation in the future.

One way of dealing with the past failure of our regulatory regime is to recognise that previous assessments tended to focus primarily on the costs rather than the benefits of regulation. We want to highlight the benefits inasmuch as they restrict unscrupulous risk taking behaviour on the part of financial institutions, of which there has been considerable evidence over the past several years. The cost of good regulation should be borne by the bodies to be regulated and the interests of ordinary people should not be put at risk. We have suffered enough and it is critically important that the cost of regulation in the future is based on an assessment of the benefits to society and the economy, not just the financial institutions concerned. Holistic assessments will be needed if we are to get a clear picture and the correct answer. Amendment No. 3 makes eminent sense and I commend it to the House.

See this speech in context