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

I thank Mr. Prasifka. How are systemic complaints dealt with by his office? What happens when the ombudsman upholds a systemic complaint against a financial institution? I refer, in particular, to tracker mortgages and the misselling of payment protection insurance, PPI. For example, borrowers who were entitled to tracker mortgages when their fixed rate period ended were not offered the tracker rate because the bank said it did not provide the product anymore but the understanding when they went on the fixed rate was that the tracker rate would be restored as per the original agreement. I understand the ombudsman dismissed the defence by the banks and told them to return the borrowers to the tracker rate. What happens after that regarding systemic complaints? Does the ombudsman tell the bank to review all such cases or only the cases that come to his attention? If there are five complainants against a bank, is it only those five cases that are dealt with even though 5,000 people may be in the same position? Has the ombudsman the power to instruct the banks to deal with all cases or must they just deal with the cases the office has addressed? While I understand all the cases must be dealt with individually, if the ombudsman rules on a principle such as in this case or on a particular wording, can that be applied to other cases?