Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Well, I think that particular conclusion related to the concern that was there at the time that the consumer dimension was virtually ignored by the Central Bank; that the Central Bank saw its job as the prudential supervision of the banking sector and it was not concerned with consumer issues and there were a number of conflagrations about consumers being done down and it not having been policed and them not having redress. So I think it was in that particular context. Did 2003 resolve that? I mean, a lot of messing went on with that right from the publication of the DIRT report until the Bill was brought into the House. I think maybe three, four years might have elapsed, and a lot of messing went on in a row between the two parties in government - the PDs wanted a green field regulator, Fianna Fáil, generally, wanted to retain it with the Central Bank. And the compromise was a hybrid which, I think you know, was unfortunate because, you know, I have watched snatches of your extraordinary work on this committee when the opportunity has presented - and I don't have much else to do nowadays so I get my kicks watching you guys and so on - and I think, you know, you bring in one person responsibility ... who's responsible, you think, for regulation and he passes the buck to the Central Bank, you bring in the Central Bank and he says, "No, no, the legislation says that's the job of the regulator", and they sling the ball out the wing. I think the substantial conclusion that I would like to see this inquiry draw, if I may suggest, is that we have classic case here of regulatory capture. I think we set up a regulator and I think, before you could say "Jack Robinson", he was doing the biddings of the banks rather than the other way around. And I think that's the tragedy ... that's the genesis of the tragedy that has befallen us.