Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In answering the Deputy's question, I will reiterate a point I made when I debated this matter with him and the rest of the committee towards the end of last year, namely, that there are two issues that I find unacceptable about the way this matter has been handled to date. The first is the root cause of this, that is, the behaviour that led to people being treated wrongly and unfairly at great cost to themselves, both financially and from a health perspective. The second matter that was of equal concern to me was the reaction of the banks to the Central Bank probe and the difficulties to which the Central Bank referred on a number of occasions towards the end last year.

The Deputy is correct that the number of affected accounts went up from 13,000 to 26,600. Since we last engaged on this matter and since last September alone, a further 13,600 customers have now been accepted by the lenders into the redress and compensation scheme. I said then that what was of equal concern to me in treating fairly the people who have been identified is identifying who else was treated unfairly by the banks.

As for what changed, I believe the Central Bank's investigation was making progress at the time. The banks were dealing with the investigation. It became clear to them the degree to which the Central Bank was determined to complete its work and unearth the scale of this issue and I believe my efforts, and those of the committee, were of assistance in making that happen.