Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I have no profound objection to these provisions. I would like the Minister to clarify the point about the Financial Services Ombudsman not having to report when he decides not to investigate or to discontinue an investigation. I understand the Minister's point that if he must give his reasons to the regulator, it reduces his independence to some extent. Presumably he will still be under some general obligation to report to the regulator on cases in which he discontinues an investigation or decides not to investigate. Will there be some public policy element from the Financial Services Ombudsman on the strategy? There needs to be consistency about these decisions. I presume that this reporting was seen as some advantage in the original draft. Are we losing anything by going down this road on the consistency of regulation and the consistency of the treatment of complaints by individuals?

The other parts of the section do not seem unreasonable. The Minister is giving the Financial Regulator more time to produce reports, which I presume is for good reason.

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