Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that. That is the role of the Central Bank and we have our own views on it. I certainly have my views on the Central Bank's role in this scandal and it coming late, and also not acting with the urgency that many people demand. Some of our witnesses today are victims of banks in which the State has a significant shareholding. It is a majority shareholding in AIB and Permanent TSB and a significant shareholding in Bank of Ireland. In previous years, we all witnessed the former Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, summoning the banks to his office and telling them off about interest rates and not passing them on. Do the witnesses believe that there is a need for political intervention to ask these banks to get their act together, to get the redress done and get their appeals systems straightened out in order that victims are not victimised all over again?