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

I have not commented on the work of the Central Bank or, indeed, the man in charge of AIB. I am talking about the general culture, and the fact that at the end of the day, someone is responsible for it. It has to be asked why no individual has been held to account, in spite of all of the destruction that all of the banks involved brought on the people of this country, who are supposed to be protected by the Government that they elect. When representatives of the Central Bank first appeared before the committee, way back at the beginning of this, we were told that there were 3,000 to 4,000 cases, but the regulator was not sure. In AIB alone, there were over 10,000 cases. There are still some unresolved cases. The banks are as difficult now, in bringing about a resolution to those outstanding accounts, as they were at the very beginning of this. I find that totally unacceptable. This House, the Minister and the Department are pushed to one side as we leave everything to the regulator. The Minister is bringing in a new Central Bank Bill. Will he, in that Bill, give authority to the regulator to say much more about fines that will be imposed in the future? It is currently restricted, as I understand it, in certain ways. I believe the public has a right to know what skullduggery was going on in the banks. The regulator needs to have a freer hand to deal with a greedy industry that seems to have no rules or regulations in-house for itself. The Minister said that AIB co-operated. Why would it not co-operate? We had witnesses all round this room who explained what happened to their homes and their families when AIB stripped them of their tracker mortgages and deprived them of the opportunity to have the matter dealt with. It ignored its customers' rights. That is outlined in the statement from the Central Bank. Will the Minister include, in the new Bill he is bringing forward, far greater powers for the regulator to name and shame any of the banking institutions or anyone else it deals with in relation to this?