John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We do not know and we will not know. The next matter is the right of the individual to speak to the fund or representative of the fund, and the right of that individual not to be treated as a second-class citizen when dealing with that company.

I have to tell the Central Bank and the Department that the agents of the funds who are here, regulated and so on have a history of treating people very badly. It is not possible to get in touch with them directly by phone. If a person talks to one individual today, he or she might talk to another individual tomorrow. A customer who repeats the same story over and over and expresses a desire to have his or her rights fulfilled and information given is constantly stalled in that process to the extent that people now have to get financial advisers or solicitors or come to people like me and other Members of this House and the Seanad as they cannot deal with them. What infuriates me is that the Central Bank gives its side of the story, as it were, without acknowledging that there is a real problem which cannot be papered over any longer. When an individual writes to the Central Bank, it will not take up his or her case or comment on it. The person then writes to the Department, but it is driven by policy and so on. Who is going to stand up for the customer and his or her rights?