Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Everybody here shares the objective of improving the legislation. While I am not saying that by weakening it, we improve it, our logic is that this is the direction in which we should go. To give Deputy Doherty some of the information, under the previous legislation about 1% of complaints concluded via the mediation process. My note states that 2,378 were resolved through mediation between 1 February and the end of 2016, following our tweaking of the existing provisions. That is about 60%, which is a big improvement. The concern is that, potentially, the retention of "shall" would deter or prevent people from attempting to conclude this via an informal process prior to mediation. Quite a few are concluded informally without going down the route of the mediation process.

That is our thinking. I appreciate that the Deputy is withdrawing the amendment. If we can have a conversation between the officials, Deputy Doherty and myself, we might come to a position with which we are satisfied. There will certainly be no weakening of the provisions. While it might not sound as strong, the existing wording could be of greater benefit to consumers.