Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I thank the witnesses for the introduction and for the work they have done on this document. I enthusiastically support the thrust of what FLAC is trying to do. I would like to ask about how we might rectify the problems that exist. I have recently come across quite a few cases, involving the Financial Services Ombudsman and other bodies, in which the "inequality of arms" alluded to by Mr. Joyce has been a feature. I refer to cases in which people are in dispute with organisations that have substantial legal resources.

I have had cases where people are dealing with educational institutions and other big institutions that have lots of resources to stymie one's effort to make a complaint or to challenge certain decisions. How can we rectify that imbalance so that the playing field is a bit more level for the ordinary citizen in pursuing a complaint or challenging a decision? I am curious to hear a response in that regard as the situation appears to be very difficult.

Many cases are intractable because the people involved feel they have been wronged. When I look at the cases in question, on the face of it that appears to be the case, but people just cannot get a proper hearing because those whom they are up against have the resources to make life difficult at every twist and turn given the high-powered legal resources at their disposal. It is impossible for people to take a case and they end up literally pulling their hair out.

Is Mr. Joyce saying that if people do not get the result they want from the Financial Services Ombudsman that there are other places of recourse such as the Circuit Court? Is he saying that people could make an application to the Circuit Court and have a judge hear the full facts of the case, which would be easier than going to the High Court? Is that an easier option to take? Will it be doable for people? When I come across such cases I do not even know where to begin to advise people what to do next.