Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I am grateful to the Minister. That is common sense. As he outlined, specific fees are not always included in legislation, so this will go some way to allaying fears out there that there is some hidden charge on the registration fee as currently prescribed.

The date by which the treatment system must be registered will be specified in regulations to be made by the Minister. In light of the previous debate and in order to reassure those who may have difficulty in filling out the form, will the Minister request any response from the local authorities to assist people in filling in the forms? He has yet to specify the date. It could be two or three weeks from the time the notice is sent out. How does that system work? Is it about self-compliance? Do people have to contact the local authority? At the moment, there is no register. I am not too clear on this. It is a little bit vague on the information that is already with the local authorities. Perhaps there might be some obligation on the local authorities to provide assistance.

Senator Harte has spoken about a certain of category of people. Over the past 20 years since European money started coming in, bypassing elected politicians in many cases, an industry of consultants sprang up. They went around charging community groups and others for filling in forms in order to access funds. I am sure the last thing the Minister would want is to create another cottage industry that will levy an extra charge on people.

Will there be a registration period? Will it be obligatory on local authorities to provide the service, rather than discretionary?