Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I want to ask about consumer protection in the context of the various roles set out for the Central Bank. With regard to the five or six roles identified, consumer protection and investor protection come last. We would be interested in knowing how consumer protection manifests itself when a person has a relationship with a bank or investment vehicle of any kind for pension or other purposes. Most people and SMEs find it very difficult to understand where the bank stands in this regard. People understand that the Central Bank is absolutely interested in the stability of the banking system, its recovery and meeting international standards and norms, but costs and charges in Ireland, across a range of items, are extraordinarily high by comparison with those in most other countries. When people fail to meet agreements, the penalties can be extremely high. People are often left without recourse.

One of the main points for consumers and SMEs is that when they are investing in pension products, it is very difficult for them to evaluate the products properly. As the witnesses know, very significant sections of the workforce are now in defined contribution structures for their pensions. Unless an individual really keeps up with the financial press or financial information, how is he or she safeguarded in terms of ensuring his or her investment is as wise and least costly as possible and produces returns that are commensurate with other options. That is a tall order but, as a society, we have moved from a quite paternalistic defined benefit pension scheme that gave people the advantage of a lot of security at the end of their investment period, provided the pension fund was well managed, although I acknowledge that many were not. Now there are hundreds of thousands of individuals, and there are to be more in the future, who are managing their own pension funds. Regarding the ordinary banking arrangements and investments of the ordinary customer or SME owner, what is the Central Bank's concept of consumer and investor protection?