Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I hope there will be individual accountability in regard to this issue but I understand the Central Bank is restricted in terms of what it can say. I reiterate, this issue will present again and again until such times as individual bankers are held accountable for their actions. This point was made by a predecessor of Professor Lane on leaving his role in the Central Bank, and I agree with it.

They nearly got away with this. The figure is €900 million at the minute but if they got away with, it could have been more than €1.5 billion because of the duration they would have been overcharging these customers. With regard to the sanctions that can be imposed, the law was amended in 2013 to provide for increased sanctions from €5 million to €10 million for institutions, and from €500,000 to €1 million for individuals, as well as 10% of turnover. The fine for Springboard Mortgages was €4.5 million. The Central Bank has to deal with an issue regarding when the tracker mortgage breaches took place. Were they pre-2013 or were some of them post-2013? Large banks such as Bank of Ireland and AIB had significantly more cases compared with Springboard. Is the maximum fine they could be subject to €10 million? What are the difficulties in this regard? How is the sanction of 10% of turnover applied?