Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I mentioned in my opening remarks that this is one of the big areas where we have a difference of opinion. I acknowledge what has been said by the Minister and the potential consequences that could flow from an appeal to the Circuit Court.

I am not dismissing that. I am not fully sure that we can get around this. For example, if an appeal was made based on a point of law could the ombudsman represent the consumer in the Circuit Court and so on?

Representatives of FLAC will appear before the committee later today. I would like to take this opportunity to point out for the benefit of the Minister what FLAC has to say in its written submission. It states that in 2012, 37 appeals were recorded by the High Court, in respect of which in 31 cases the consumer was the appellant. In other words it was the consumers who took the financial institutions to the High Court. Many people would not have the means to do that. The Financial Services Ombudsman is the notice party in this area. If Mary has been mis-sold a financial product by one of the main financial institutions in this country and the Financial Service Ombudsman finds that Mary does not have a case that he or she can uphold and Mary then takes an appeal to the High Court, that case is defended by the Financial Services Ombudsman, involving the use of our money, rather than the financial institution, be that Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB and so on. They are shielded, not the consumer.

While I do not agree totally with the arguments made by the Minister I do not dismiss them. I have been watching this area closely for the last number of years and I have noted a marked increase in terms of mediation, as mentioned by the Minister. Progress is being made in that regard and that is to be welcomed but regardless of who we are or in what sphere we operate there will always be mistakes made or errors in terms of judgment. That will be the case with the Financial Services Ombudsman such that consumers will have the wrong decisions handed down to them. At this point in time the only option open to consumers that believe they have been wronged by the decision of the Financial Services Ombudsman is an appeal to the High Court, which is simply beyond the means of many individuals. The issue is how we ensure there is full recourse to the courts available to an individual. As I said, the record shows that in 2012 the rate of appeal on a decision of the Financial Services Ombudsman by consumers versus the regulated financial services was 6:1.