Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent)
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I just want to say the principle of what happened here is that several years after the unhappy experience occurred, and there was a dispute, the matter was shuffled along in a reluctant way and the financial services side was not forthcoming with evidence of what went on. That is not good enough.

They eventually say, "No, take your case to the financial ombudsman and you have the right to take it to the High Court." It may be a minor matter but it is a matter of principle. I do not think this is acceptable. If there is a request from a complainant to be heard and the financial services provider says, "We prefer it to be dealt with on a file review basis", that is not good enough. Even though they have been asked under freedom of information and in other ways, to produce all the evidence, I know for a fact in the case that not all the evidence is there and that evidence that had been given back to the financial institution has not surfaced for review purposes. That is not a happy situation. If that type of case occurs it should be an automatic full hearing situation. If the money amount is small there is no chance of it going to the High Court and that is absurd.