Mr. Simon Carswell:

A multitude of things could have been included in the compliance statements for the industry at the time of the consultation process. The industry includes not only the banks but all financial institutions, including in the insurance area. Concerns would have been raised about whether the measure was too heavy. The regulatory authorities were set up on the basis that they were principles based, which is what we now see as light-touch. This is potentially an onerous statement and onerous rules to apply to directors. The concerns raised by industry played well with the Department of Finance concerns. This relates back to the more general issue of one of the mandates of the Financial Regulator within the Central Bank being to make Ireland attractive as a place in which to set up financial business. They did not want this type of rules-based compliance statement to be introduced at that time because it would have caused a problem for the sale of Ireland as a pro-business country for the financial sector.