George Lee (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

Similar to Deputy Burton, I wish to ask the Taoiseach about the consumer and competition Bill. Approximately ten years ago, it was discovered that the National Irish Bank was stealing money from customers' accounts on a wholesale basis. The theft was identified in internal audit reports and was the subject of a journalistic investigation in which my colleague, Charlie Bird, and I were involved. In the course of the investigation, it became clear that there were major holes in respect of financial and consumer regulation in the banking sector. Where a bank was stealing money in that way, protecting people proved difficult.

The protection of consumers was one of the core reasons for the establishment of the consumer element of the new regulator. Until that point, all that obtained in terms of financial regulation was prudential regulation. In a sense, the Central Bank saw it as its job to ensure that, in prudential regulation, banks were profitable so that the system-----

See this speech in context