John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The law applies to everybody and nobody is above it. If there has been any criminal activity, it is a matter for the Garda to investigate and the Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute anybody against whom evidence is available. The Government cannot get involved in individual cases. The framework with the recapitalised banks makes it clear that the Government does not get involved with the daily operations of banks.

The code of conduct is part of a suite of supports put in place for SMEs. It is legally binding and is working fairly well. Nevertheless, all codes may be improved, as can be seen with the most recent version of the code, and it will be subject to further review shortly.

Enforcement actions that may be taken by the Central Bank include monetary penalties and a direction for reprimand to the institution concerned. The Central Bank regularly publishes outcomes of investigations. Financial services firms must comply with business rules in all dealings with customers and the Central Bank of Ireland uses a number of methods to monitor compliance with consumer protection requirements. These include inspections, general reviews on a particular topic and mystery shopping of monitoring and advertising financial services. I appreciate the Deputies raising this matter.

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