Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, it is, and there should be much more switching. Equally, the Central Bank tolerates certain banks charging their existing, loyal customers more than they charge a new customer. One might say that is common in business, as it is in the case of electricity and other utility services, but it is the largest transaction that most people will ever enter into. While one can blame the consumer's inertia, we have to regulate in the round for the public good. Consumers are being exploited and taken advantage of. It is not something that the Central Bank, as the regulator and the consumer protection watchdog in the current architecture, should preside over. Do our guests wish to comment on that? I have repeated this view time and again.