4. (1) The Minister may, whether on his or her own initiative or at the request of the Ombudsman, having consulted with the Council and the Ombudsman, for the purposes of providing ease of access for complainants to the Ombudsman, increasing efficiency in the operation of the office of the Ombudsman and allowing for appropriate redress and compensation to be provided by the Ombudsman to complainants, by regulations provide for any matter—

(a) referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed, or

(b) for the purposes of enabling any provision of this Act to have full effect.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), regulations under that subsection may—

(a) prescribe a class or classes of persons who may make a complaint under section 44,

(b) prescribe the qualification requirements of a class under this subsection,

(c) specify a class or classes of persons for the purposes of—

(i) paragraph (a) of the definition of “financial service provider”, or

(ii) paragraph (d) of the definition of “pension provider”,

(d) prescribe matters to be taken into account by the Ombudsman in the investigation or adjudication of a complaint,

(e) prescribe procedures to be followed by the Ombudsman in processing a complaint,

(f) specify circumstances in which the Ombudsman may dismiss a complaint,

(g) prescribe a class or classes of complaint that may not be made to the Ombudsman under section 44,

(h) specify a maximum amount of compensation that the Ombudsman may award to a complainant under section 60,

(i) prescribe the matters to be taken into account for the purpose of calculating turnover limits for complainants.

(3) Without prejudice to any provision of this Act, regulations under this section—

(a) may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulations, and

(b) may make different provision for different circumstances or cases, classes or types.

(4) Every regulation made under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House sits after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under the regulation.