Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The McDowell report recommended that funding for the operation of the new financial services regulatory authority should come from the industry. Levies to fund the authority will be prescribed by the chief executive, with the agreement of the other members of the authority, by way of regulations. This will be done only after a detailed consultation process. Any regulations made by the chief executive must, in turn, be approved by the Minister for Finance who must lay them before each House of the Oireachtas. In addition, the budget of the regulatory authority, which the levies will finance, will, having been approved by the Minister, be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. The essential safeguards written into this legislation are ministerial approval of both the budget and the levies, parliamentary disclosure and preparation by the authority.