Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is quite helpful and we can examine that. I am conscious that there are other members who wish to speak but the ombudsman has not addressed some of the issues with regard to my own piece of legislation. With regard to the definition of the consumer, we have heard about individuals who are accessing the free services the Office of the Financial Services Ombudsman. The courts have suggested that these individuals should not be accessing the services and they should be going to the Commercial Court. The courts have also questioned the council in expanding the definition of consumer and questioned whether it would stand-up to a constitutional challenge. I do not want to go into the constitutional part of it now as I want to go in to the principle behind it since we are only dealing with principles at the moment. In Mr. Deering's view should the likes of credit Unions and property developers, who have quite large loans but who have a turnover of less than €3 million, be able to access the free services of the Office of the Financial Services Ombudsman or is it supposed to be very much for the personal consumer?