Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I ask the Deputy to just let me conclude. The Deputy knows that as a shareholder I cannot and do not get involved in commercial decisions. All that being said, what happened with the tracker mortgage issue was an absolute scandal. I used that word when the scale of harm involved for so many became apparent, not just to those families and people affected but to this committee and to me. The scale of what happened was a scandal. It was wrong that the issue developed in the first place. How the matter was dealt with and how the banks dealt with the regulator was also something that I believed at the time was unacceptable.

I have three points to make about it. First, I believe that the scale of fines imposed on AIB in this regard shows the seriousness with which the matter has been dealt with by the Central Bank. Between the fine, redress and compensation from AIB and from EBS, the total cost has been over €300 million. A large share of that €300 million has been accounted for by customers getting their money back in the first place. Nonetheless, I believe the fine imposed shows the seriousness with which the Central Bank has dealt with this issue. Second, the strong view I convey to the committee is that if we separate consumer protection from the financial regulator, then we will undermine consumer protection in the long run, because the most effective way of dealing with consumer protection is by having it done through the financial regulator for the banking sector. Third, Garda investigations are underway into some of these matters. While I know the committee will have wanted me to have moved this matter forward faster than I have, we will be bringing forward the senior executive accountability regime, SEAR, legislation. I hope to publish that next week.