Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As I need to leave soon I will try to keep my questions brief and ask for brief responses. Reference was made earlier to the financial ombudsman in Britain and so on and there was a line of questioning in relation to PPIs. I would like to focus on mortgages and credit availability and the complaints upheld in Britain and the North of Ireland in relation to two financial institutions that are the dominant financial institutions in this State. I raise this issue because it appears that complaints to the ombudsman in Britain are in the main being upheld while here the opposite is the case. For example, in regard to AIB five complaints have been substantiated and 23 have been partially substantiated. In regard to Bank of Ireland, six complaints have been substantiated and 13 have been partially substantiated. We know from the case studies outlined earlier what is meant by partially substantiated. However, in respect of Bank of Ireland in Britain 19%, or 38, of the 190 complaints made during the last quarter of last year in relation to mortgages were upheld. In regard to banking and credit, at least 55 complaints were upheld. Leaving aside insurance, close to 90 cases in one quarter were upheld in Britain. Here, only six cases in one quarter were upheld. The percentages are very low. We are all aware of the dominant space which Bank of Ireland has here. Is it that the bank is better behaved in Ireland than it is in Britain or is it the case that we are applying different rules or that the way in which the Ombudsman's office here is set up is different?