Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would expect that would happen. The reason for that is not just what I said to the Deputy a moment ago regarding section 53F(c), which refers to delegated tasks. That is the issue he raises. In addition, if he looks at the senior role, whether it be the CEO or head of risk, he will see that section 53F(a) contains the phrase "that the business of the regulated financial services provider is controlled effectively,". In that scenario, my expectation is that if there is a failure to meet the regulatory standards, if somebody is subjected to an additional control standard and is in a senior role, that he or she would then be subjected to this legislation. That is why we have the additional conduct standards in the first place.

If I could make a point about the scenario to which the Deputy referred as well, to use a different scenario, what I think will be very important in the implementation of this legislation - the Central Bank will take account of this - we do need to be very careful to avoid the scenario in which it is always the responsibility of the most junior person for the adherence to standards and to regulations, and that if we get into a situation of regulatory failure, that we are not in a position where it is the people who were at the lower levels of units that were responsible for this and who are always the ones held accountable for it. This is why we have the additional conduct standards and the reason there is specific reference to delegated tasks within in. The responsibility also sits with those who are leading or managing a business overall or a unit of the business such as the risk unit referred to by the Deputy.