Ms Derville Rowland:

What I would like to say about the appeals tribunal is that precisely because we knew it was very important for customers to have options inside the tracker mortgage examination and a right to appeal, we insisted on the appeals mechanisms existing and that they would be independent or that there would be a majority of independent people on and that consumer advocates would be included in those panels. This means that the credibility and decision-making of the appeals are at arm's length from the lenders and the Central Bank and are led by independent people, particularly consumer advocates, who are in the majority. This is an important safeguard for people in order that, as one of the options available to them, they can go to an appeal panel where the decision can be considered afresh with independent eyes. This is a significant characteristic of the appeals panels.