Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Public interest directors were appointed under section 4 of the Credit Institutions Act, which states that the directors - in the case of public directors - have a duty which takes priority over other duties of the directors. That means that public interest directors have a specific role. When the former Minister for Finance, the late Brian Lenihan, appointed you, he was quoted in one newspaper as saying that he was appointing some "thick-skinned" people. The public perception would have been that you were in there battling for the public. Since 2008, we have learnt a lot more about the banks and how badly they were constructed. One of the terms of reference in that legislation is to facilitate the availability of credit in the economy of the State. What have both Mr. MacSharry and Ms Hayes been doing to facilitate that legislative requirement? More specifically, what have both public interest directors been doing to prepare the bank with regard to the forthcoming personal insolvency legislation and ensure that the bank is engaging progressively with customers and people who are significantly in debt and in very distressed situations?