Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I know and I am not suggesting that. The intervention is helpful from Mr. Justice Hedigan in that regard. Where I differ from him, however, is in the statement that he issued. In his opening statement, Mr. Justice Hedigan said the financial institutions and banks needed to regain trust. He referred to the scepticism because his board is funded by the five main banks. It is an industry initiative. Therefore, the board must also gain trust with the public. Putting out a statement that the culture board welcomed the bank decision to waive the mortgage complaints timeline was wrong. There was no ability for them to do that. They were fighting the ombudsman and had no legal basis to do that. It was never actually determined in law whether they were right or wrong. The legislation is very clear and provides that it is three years from when one becomes aware not three years from when one had suspicions of the event. It is three years from when one became aware. The KBC and Bank of Ireland idea that a person ringing up ten years ago to say he or she thought he or she might not be on the right tracker rate had awareness is not correct. That was not awareness, it was a suspicion. However, the board came down on the side of the banks on this. It came down on the core argument to suggest there was a problem. I would welcome Mr. Justice Hedigan's insight as a judge in that regard because if there is a problem with the legislation, we need to address it. The board did not call out the culture of the banks when they were trying to argue a point of law which had not been adjudicated in court and on which the financial services ombudsman had a different view. As the author of the legislation, I also have a different view. However, the board dealing with the culture of the banks did not call that out.

That was a serious first mistake because it showed the culture of the banks in the here and now.