Ms MaryRose McGovern:

Anyone can walk in off the street during office hours and speak to somebody on our reception desk, if that is the way a person wants to access our services. Accessibility is one of our core values and we are very mindful of providing the service in a way that suits people best. It is one of the themes in our customer charter. Approximately 80 to 85% of complainants want to use the digital pathway to use our services every year and will complete the complaint form online and communicate with us by email. For those who want to write to us using the postal services or who want to drop in to see us to make a complaint and to get some guidance on what they need to do, we are open to making that service available to them. We are happy to talk to people in person. We are conscious of ensuring that people are comfortable with the way that they access our services. In fact, idir an Ghaeilge agus an Béarla, is í an tseirbhís céanna atá ar fáil, whatever language they speak, we will make the same service available to them. Irrespective of what the nature of the issue is, what age a person is, where that person is from and what language that person speaks, we make the same service available. In our overview of complaints, we have included a map of where our complaints come from. The committee might be interested in pages 19 and 20 of that report where it shows that 80% of our complaints come from the island of Ireland while 20% of our complaints come from other parts of the world. That includes about 6% that are beyond Europe. If the financial services provider is regulated in this jurisdiction or if it comes within the definition, anybody can make a complaint about the conduct of that provider. Accessibility is key to the service.