Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

There is absolutely no inconsistency between emphasising the statutorily based independence of the regulator and making express provision for the consent of the Minister to be required in certain circumstances or providing for the capacity of the Minister to issue policy directives. Deputy Ó Cuív used a good example earlier when he spoke about the banking regulator. He was quite right to say I criticised the banking regulator. I was right to do so. It is a great pity that his colleagues did not criticise the banking regulator. If they had done so, we would not be in the mess we are in. If a had a choice - I am speaking on the eve of the most momentous meeting in Europe since we joined the EEC in 1973 - I would prefer if the cock-ups that were made in the banking service had been made in the postal service regulator. We could have survived that. It remains to be seen whether we will be able to survive the legacy of Deputy Ó Cuív and his colleagues, who were asleep at the wheel when the banking regulator was failing to do his job. There was negligence of duty on the part of the various mechanisms that were built into the system, in terms of the Central Bank, the Department of Finance and the Minister for Finance. That left us in the situation we are in this evening, on the eve of a meeting in Europe of a magnitude of importance that this country has never experienced in its time as a member state of the European Union.

There is no conflict here. The areas where the consent of the Minister must be sought have been carefully calibrated. The underlying theme in Deputy Ó Cuív's argument is that he is feigning not to accept the role of regulation. Let me take that back. I will take him at face value. He does not accept the role of regulation in the utilities that have been the subject of regulation in recent years. Ironically, the paternity of those arrangements lies with successive Governments of which he was a part. The regulation of energy, telecommunications, electronics, the postal service and so on has come with particular directives, one of which we are transposing into Irish law.

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