Professor Philip Lane:

Let me make two points. First, when this process is concluded, at that point this committee can make the assessment as to whether it finds the final outcome satisfactory. Before that, in terms of how long it has taken, we have given some reasons why it has taken this long. The primary responsibility is with the banks which failed their customers. As I indicated, early on in this process we had a degree of engagement with the banks. There was some delay and there is no doubt that, in retrospect, I accept the regulator could have done more in terms of adopting a more extensive approach. However, the powers we have now were not in place at that time and the court case did limit our ability to use our enforcement powers in pursuit of this problem. I accept criticism of the Central Bank and the regulator in the context that the primary failure here is with the banks. At this point, through the comprehensive Central Bank-led process, the aspiration is that through redress and compensation and through our enforcement powers, while we cannot undo the harm that has happened, we are doing our best to achieve some mitigation of these problems through what we can deliver through this programme.