Ms Derville Rowland:

The Central Bank of Ireland already has enforcement powers and in the event of a breach of rules being proven, sanctions can be applied to both firms and individuals. The sanctions are in place and will remain in place and they are used by the Central Bank. More than 122 enforcement cases have been concluded to date, with €61 million of fines being incurred, and more than 12 individuals have been disqualified. The fitness and probity regime challenges the competence, capability and integrity of persons who are entering into senior roles and those who are in place. People have been disqualified there too and as we challenge we find more and more that a lot of senior people withdraw rather than face the challenge of the Central Bank. To date, there are more than 50 cases of people withdrawing. We have been to the High Court and the Court of Appeal to vindicate our right to use our enforcement powers. The sanctions are in place and they are working.

The new legislative proposal will require the Oireachtas to approve it and to put it in place. We aim to streamline the enforcement powers to make one uniform process, make some amendment to the current process, which would break the link between participation of an individual's conduct and that of a firm. We think it would strengthen the ability to take enforcement cases in the future.

In respect of the individual accountability proposals, we are making a proposal in a comprehensive way that mirrors the leading edge of approaches in other countries for a set of standards and an individual accountability regime that would require legislative action on the part of the Oireachtas to bring that into force. That is one of the parts in the report on which we are making a proposal but it is separate to the culture report, which will require action from the firms to improve their own culture. We see that as a complement to strengthening the approach that we are adopting.