Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I apologise for my delay in coming to the House. I thank Deputy Donohoe for raising this important case, the particulars of which I am aware. It has a much wider application because of the number of people who used this option to obtain financing and mortgage deals when there was a flood of opportunities to do so in the past.

Mortgage intermediaries that intend to provide services to consumers must be authorised by the Central Bank in accordance with section 116 of the Consumer Credit Act 1995. A mortgage intermediary is defined as a person, other than a mortgage lender or a credit institution, who, in return for commission or some other form of consideration, arranges or offers to arrange for a mortgage lender to provide a consumer with a housing loan, or introduces a consumer to an intermediary who arranges or offers to arrange for a mortgage lender to provide the consumer with such a loan. It is an offence for a person to engage in being a mortgage intermediary unless he or she is the holder of an authorisation granted for that purpose by the Central Bank and holds a letter of appointment in writing from each undertaking for which he or she is an intermediary.

The Central Bank is responsible for the authorisation and supervision of over 2,000 mortgage intermediaries. I have no indication from the Central Bank of a lacuna in the law in this regard.

The points raised by Deputy Donohoe about a particular case have a wide application. It would be important, therefore, that his statement in the House would be transmitted immediately to the Central Bank. He has informed the House that a complaint is now before the Central Bank concerning the case. It is not the Minister for Finance's position to comment on this complaint and it is better to await the deliberations of the Central Bank.

Deputy Donohoe has also raised the fundamental issue of the supervision of the granting of authorisation to mortgage intermediaries. Is there a proper supervision regime in place? Is the complaints system adequate to allow for the removal of a negligent mortgage intermediary? If the Central Bank believes the law needs to be changed to provide additional consumer protection, as outlined by Deputy Donohoe, the Government would be open to suggestions. However, the authority in the first instance rests with the Central Bank to determine if such a change is necessary and what further policy changes may need to be considered by the Government. It is important the Central Bank makes its determination on the particular case raised by the Deputy known soon as it has wider implications across financial services supervision.

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