Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

Among the issues which have caused the public increasing concern as various scandals have unfolded has been the low priority given to consumer protection by financial services operators. Deputy Boyle's amendment offers a better version than that offered by the Minister of State. We will want to hear the views on consumer protection of the council which I hope will be a significant player in the financial services framework and of the ombudsman to whom it reports. Recently, we have seen instances of the mis-selling of products, overcharging, failure to notify and failure to observe obligations under consumer credit legislation. Consumers are not being told in layman's terms exactly what they are signing up to. They are not being provided with an opportunity to consider what is involved and there is no explicit sign up as was clearly the case with the mortgage protection policies which were doubly sold with the extending of loans.

We want to see more than a list of complaints. A well-informed council of the financial services ombudsman should bring new thinking and good practice from elsewhere to bear and express strong views in its annual reports on whether or not we are moving towards where consumers ought to be in the system. The Minister for Finance's amendment provides simply for a tight reportage on specific complaints and what was done with them. Deputy Boyle's amendment has the advantage of providing the council and the ombudsman with the opportunity to provide a more general, state-of-the-nation commentary on whether or not the regulatory authority is succeeding in putting consumers into an important position in the regulatory structure. That is something they have never had in the past.

See this speech in context