Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are four questions. In response to Deputy Doherty, the Central Bank, unlike Government Departments, decides on its staff complement and can increase it if it feels it is necessary to do so in order to fulfil its legal requirements. Given that it is a bank, it is very well funded. Each year it transfers a lot of excess profits to the Exchequer. Funding extra staff is not a problem.

Deputies Doherty and McGrath asked about the process. I have a note with information from the Central Bank. Once a customer who has been affected has been identified in the first instance, the lender must stop charging the incorrect rate of interest on the customer's account and then communicate this to the customer to ensure that any further customer detriment is stopped as early as possible. Once a full review of the customer's account is complete, and following external independent third-party assurance, the lender will then issue a letter to the customer explaining the nature of the error, the correct rate to apply to the customer's account and information on the next steps in the examination, including the redress and compensation process.

In response to Deputy McGrath's last point, the Central Bank has also advised that it will consider appropriate supervisory action, up to and including enforcement action, where necessary. All angles, including individual culpability, will be thoroughly investigated in the context of the legal framework. Enforcement measures will be deployed, as appropriate etc. as I stated in my original reply.

See this speech in context