Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

This is relevant to the amendment. I am not casting any aspersions on the current office holder but the general principle of a continuation of policy from the Department of Finance right through to the Governor of the Central Bank is not good in a regulatory system. I would like the Governor of the Central Bank to be totally independent of everybody and not embarrassed to carry through Government or departmental policy when governing the institution. When we include provisions in this scheme, we should be absolutely certain that Members of the House will be able to meet members of the electorate and say they did everything possible to guarantee their money would never be in doubt. We must be certain there is a regulatory system in place — I hope regulatory sanctions will never have to be used — that will do everything to recover money, if necessary.

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