John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 198: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if the private security authority will be requested to review the minimum fee of €1,250 for an intruder alarm installer contractor licence; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that this minimum fee is based on an annual turnover of €625,000; his views on whether in the case of sole traders who are not exclusively engaged in installing intruder alarms, their annual relevant turnover is only a small fraction of the minimum figure; if his attention has further been drawn to the fact that there is also an administration fee of €1,000 for such a licence making a total fee of €2,250; his further views on whether this level of licence fees will force sole traders out of the security installation business; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8620/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The private security authority licence fee structure reflects the variety between the different sectors of the industry and takes account of companies and employees who might be working in multiple sectors. Fees also take account of the relative size of companies operating in any given sector. Moreover, the authority is obliged to become self-financing so licence fees must reflect the overall operating costs of the authority.

The two-year licence fee was set taking into account the huge variety of cost models in the various sectors of the industry. These range from low turnover but high staffing levels in the guarding sector, to lower staffing levels but higher turnover in sectors such as electronics.

The private security industry itself supports regulation and has actively campaigned for it for many years. The provision of a regulatory environment for the industry will understandably lead to structured cost implications. However, it is the industry which will benefit from regulation and it is in line with Government policy that the industry should fund such a development.

This matter was examined by the board of the private security authority at its meeting of 21 November 2005, which re-affirmed its previous decision with regard to the fee structure and decided that this issue would be revisited by the board in the context of a review of licensing in two years' time.