Ms Jackie Lavin:

Yes, we have. To be honest, I and several other members of the newly formed group have been working on this for over four years, some people for longer. We have not had the possibility of access to justice through the courts, first, because of costs and, second, because we felt that everything was stacked against us. One went in as a lay litigant but, on the other side, senior counsel and everything was stacked against one. It was not an even playing field. In most cases, one was turfed out of the courts.

The means of reporting to the Financial Services Ombudsman are not available or accessible to most people. I tried to engage with the office and they came back to me saying that it was only available to companies that had a turnover of up to €3 million. I asked what people who have a turnover well and truly in excess of that amount do, and they said: "Well, you have the courts, the High Court". In other words, therefore, one has nothing. There are no means of complaint for people with over that amount of money.