Mr. Paul Kenny:

It certainly is something that needs to be considered. My office and the Financial Services Ombudsman are unique in the Irish ombudsman world in the sense of being able to give binding determinations, which we have to do. Trustees and other people in jurisdiction simply would not get on board if the determinations were not binding. We are obliged to try to put things right where they have gone wrong and give redress to people who are entitled to it. Other ombudsmen may make recommendations that are not binding. Indeed, the financial services ombudsman in the United Kingdom can only bind the companies in jurisdiction, not the complainants, which is an interesting idea. Where a complaint is without foundation, my view is that it is right to bind all parties, so that the person who brought the complaint does not get up to separate mischief, having had a decision given against him or her.