Mr. Padraic Kissane:

If the Central Bank is shy of powers, it can direct rather than accept or receive from the banks. If the timelines are at the behest of what the banks dictate, I do not regard apologies for the thousands who are affected as a reason for the delay. The thousands who are affected highlight what went on and the number of people affected. People set about doing everything within their power to try to meet their payments. If the Central Bank attends the committee and there are areas in which it is clearly lacking, the Houses of the Oireachtas should speed forward whatever legislation and powers need to be provided to enable the Central Bank to dictate to the banks much more if it is not allowed to. I am not certain that it is not allowed to. I have heard about the improvement in powers that were given in 2013. I would see some European directives give the Central Bank much more power than it even understands. Many directives are in place in Europe to prevent this from occurring and they are law and have been adopted in this country.