Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 77 is one I had overlooked. It is clear from what the Minister of State has said that the arguments put forward on Committee Stage were heard, and that amendment deals with the issue, albeit in a different section. That is to be welcomed and it means the amendment I tabled in that area is not required. I warmly welcome the fact that the specific information will now be provided as a result of the amendment introduced by the Minister of State on Report Stage.

I completely and utterly disagree on the de minimus rule. Either we trust the Financial Services Ombudsman or we do not. We trust the Financial Services Ombudsman to make a judgment on the public interest. This does not require him to publish a report. We all know that a report can be as short as two lines; it could simply detail the institution, the number of complaints and the types of complaint. It can be very short and it need not be onerous in respect of the bank or the Financial Services Ombudsman, but it would only be in cases where it is in the public interest. I trust the Financial Services Ombudsman and, therefore, I will be pressing the amendment.

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