Mr. Ger Deering:

In terms of tracker mortgages, in some respects this issue caught a lot of people by surprise as it developed. On the issue of complaints, at that stage the office was getting approximately 8,500 complaints, which was double the amount it had been receiving up to then. It probably would have been easy enough to view that as part of the overall collapse in the economy. I cannot comment on whether that should have been done earlier. When I was appointed I saw it as a priority. The exercise has been a very valuable one. The Central Bank has acknowledged that it has been useful to it.

Since taking up office my aim has been to ensure that anybody who makes a complaint to the office, whether before or since my time, gets exactly what they are entitled to and the maximum back, particularly from this redress programme.