Mr. John Palmer:

With regard to latter point, as the Deputy is aware, the Central Bank is carrying out a review of its consumer protection code. This will lead to a new consumer protection code. I suspect it will be a regulation in 2024. With regard to the banks and payment service providers, the Central Bank has the lead operational role. It supervises them. It has the consumer protection code and all that entails and what changes need to be made. AI should form a part of that. The basic policy position on consumer protection is that your rights should not change depending on the mode of delivery. With most financial products, we hear much about fintech. I am not talking about crypto and all the rest; that is very different. I am talking about the basic bread and butter – vanilla banking products. We have fintech involved now, so we are all paying with our phones and can do things online. However, ultimately, we are still using the same products. We still have a current account that we make payments with. We still have savings accounts and loans. The actual basic products are the same. Whether people access that product in a bank branch, over a counter, through An Post at the counter, online, through an app or using a phone, their rights should not be affected. That is the policy position. Making sure that happens is an operational matter, and that is where the Central Bank and the consumer protection code come in. They are there to ensure that people’s rights are respected and protected to the greatest extent possible.

We obviously try to liaise across Government. Ultimately, however, different legislative proposals must have an owner and they are the ones that do it. I hear what the Deputy is saying about the Departments of Justice and the Environment, Climate and Communications. We can certainly make representations to them and express our support for things like the database. However, we cannot physically go and do it.