Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I welcome Mr. Sheridan and his colleagues, and Mr. Fielding. It strikes me that the banks have a kind of lucky dip of bank charges available to them since 1996. They can dip in or out of that well. This is a very abstract area for ordinary people, but it is not so abstract for people in business who are being hit with referral charges, unpaid fees charges and this, that and the other, putting their overdraft over the limit and requiring them to spend hours on the phone talking to their banks in order to survive. This is the reality. We appear to be talking about the banks at length.

I would much prefer to be talking about SMEs and personal customers. The banks have cost us €64 billion to date and I know from having heard the banks before this committee that they have learnt absolutely nothing.

Will Mr. Sheridan explain how these charges came about in 1996? Are they underpinned by legislation? I would like to hear the context and to know how many there were. I was not aware of this. Am I correct in saying that the banks at the moment have a lucky dip of charges from which they can choose, without having to get any approval from the Central Bank, and which they can then impose on customers?