Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 36:

In page 45, to delete lines 12 to 15 and substitute the following:“(9) Where the Court is satisfied, because of the nature or the circumstances of the case or otherwise in the interests of justice, that it is desirable, the whole or any part of proceedings before it under this section may be heard otherwise than in public.”.

These are all drafting amendments to Part 9 of the Bill relating to the enforcement section. Amendment No. 39 is an amendment to section 53 of the Bill dealing with restitution orders. The restitution provisions contained in the Bill will allow the Central Bank to apply to the High Court for a restitution order against any person who has been unjustly enriched or caused another person to suffer loss or detriment as a result of committing a contravention of the financial services legislation.

Upon such an application being made, the High Court may order the person concerned to pay to the Central Bank such sums as the High Court deems appropriate, having regard to the extent to which the person has been unjustly enriched or another person has suffered loss or detriment. The Central Bank may then make a distribution of this money to any person who has suffered loss or detriment in accordance with the directions of the High Court.

The provisions currently allow for restitution only with respect to persons found to have committed a contravention through the Central Bank's administrative sanction regime, as outlined in Part III(C) of the Central Bank Act 1942. Separate regimes also exist for the purposes of various securities laws and regulations necessarily separate due to the subject matter of those regulations.

There is every reason why someone guilty of a contravention of the prospectus, market abuse or transparency directives should also be liable to a restitution action on the same basis as those guilty of a contravention under other provisions of Irish financial services law generally. For that reason, the scope of the mechanism proposed is being widened to bring such regimes within the restitution regime.

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