Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

It is true that they have a good relationship. If an issue arose in the normal course of events that the ombudsman felt the regulator should know about, the ombudsman would inform him. This section seeks to underpin his independence. It is not a question that he be spoken to by the Financial Regulator. It is part of the need to reinforce the independence of these ombudsmen from other people in the apparatus. It is not that there is a problem out there, but we are trying to reconfirm what was intended originally, which is his statutory independence.

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