Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We welcome this group of amendments, which take aim at the same points, the inclusion of certain groups that, by the spirit of the legislation, should have redress to the Financial Services Ombudsman but which the ombudsman has ruled currently do not qualify. I am of the view that it is possible and arguable that the findings of the ombudsman could be challenged, but the best thing to do is to clear up any uncertainty by making it crystal clear and precise that they do indeed qualify. My colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, wrote to the Minister in October about this issue. The Minister responded positively and has acted with the amendments tabled today. The group in question are members of one member schemes which fell foul of the definition of long-term financial service. The issue was the definition of the word "fixed". Deputy Pearse Doherty's amendment sought to remedy this problem by introducing a new definition of a financial service in which the consumer could reasonably expect the service to last more than five years and one month, the point being that the definition of "fixed" was too restrictive.

As the Minister of State has outlined in his comments, his amendments very much tackle the same issue, and we are satisfied that they resolve it. We will consequently support those amendments and will withdraw our own.

The next challenge, as we see it, is amendment No. 5, which I believe has been ruled out of order. We should all be of one mind on the issue it raises; it allows access to the Financial Services Ombudsman for those people who bought whole of life insurance products and other whole of life products before 2002. There are some concerning issues being brought to the attention of Deputies about these cases. The interpretation of the 2002 Act by the ombudsman means that these people are being barred from the process. Amendment No. 5, which has been disallowed, was tabled by Deputy Pearse Doherty, and would have made an attempt to get to the heart of this issue. At the core of the legislation recently passed was a new rule that a consumer complaint within three years of being aware of an issue, or that they could reasonably be considered to have become aware of it, would allow a person access to the Financial Services Ombudsman process. This replaced the old six year blanket rule. Many people have benefited from that change, but in the case of very long-term products backstop has become a problem. We can make no judgment of the merits of the cases or whether the complainants have a good case or otherwise, but the point is that they deserve access to the process. This is something that Deputy Pearse Doherty and my party intend to return to on Report Stage. Given that the amendment was ruled out of order, I would like the Minister of State to commit to dealing with this issue and will consider it at that stage.