Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Chairman will be delighted with this one. I like this one. This is an interesting one. It is where the account does not close despite an indication that it has done so. There was some little tail-end left hanging in the wilderness still outstanding. It could be anything. The customer presumes the account is closed and walks off about his or her business, suddenly to get a bill for a small amount - in one case brought to my attention it was a terribly small amount, like pence or cents - and a fee for late payment. When I heard that ,I was not moved to mirth because it is the original bureaucrat's idea of walking away and saying, "But you didn't think of this coming." If unresponded to by the customer after a month, there is another late payment. Now there is a deficit that has to be paid, a liability that the customer has to pay through no fault of his or her own.