Professor Philip Lane:

I acknowledge that. We cannot overemphasise that our role is to serve the public interest. We are public servants. We are clear that our only agenda is to serve the public. Our objective is no different from that of the members of the committee and I urge them to bear that in mind. We operate under certain legal and supervisory constraints. I appreciate it is sometimes frustrating when we cannot disclose all that we do, but that is due to the intrinsic nature of supervision. However, our underlying objectives are the same.

On how the tracker examination unfolded, we have acknowledged that the committee repeatedly calling before it representatives of the banks has been very helpful in terms of shining a spotlight on what happened. On the number the Chair cited from our original reporting, we adopted a conservative reporting approach and presented the numbers completed. It would be a mischaracterisation to assert that the move from 8,700 completed to where we are now was the journey we were always on. Essentially, we were always determined to see this through, and that has been borne out. We are very grateful that the Oireachtas supported that through the committee and that the Government did so through its interactions with the banks. I agree that it should never have been necessary. Part of the enforcement actions we are considering is why the banks did not comply with our requirements under the examination without obstruction.

It is very important for the public listening to these proceedings to appreciate that our only agenda is to serve the public interest and that we do that within our mandates. Most of the matters with which we deal and the interventions we make never become public because that is not the nature of supervision. I acknowledge that, like some others, the Central Bank must demonstrate its effectiveness in terms of the outcomes that are achieved to gain more trust. I ask the committee to accept that we have the same objective. We have no reason to go easy on the banks. Our job is to solve any problems we identify. In so doing, not everything is made public but we have the same objective as the committee.