Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 1 October 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Irish Banking Culture Board: Discussion

Mr. Justice John Hedigan:

I regard what Deputy Pearse Doherty has said as good advice. If that is the way he perceived it, others also perceived it in that way, although that was certainly not what was intended. As far as we are concerned, the board does not come down on anybody's side, other than that of the customer. We have things to learn as we go along. The Deputy is right that we have to earn the trust of the public and that we must be careful about what we say. I assure him that there is no possibility, as it were, of our coming down on the bank's side on any issue. We are on the side of the customer. That is also what we demand of the banks.