Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My concern is that the Central Bank has carried out a review of 11 institutions, including three that I have very strong reasons to believe are involved in breach of the consumer codes by not disclosing their interests in the underwriter. That should have been picked up by the Central Bank when it carried out its review. It was not. A judge has now ruled in a test case that the defendant's conduct was capable of amounting to a misleading commercial practice within the meaning of section 43(2) and 43(3)(c). The appeal against that ruling has been withdrawn, so the ruling now stands.

The Minister of State will be aware that I have legislation which will hopefully be passed in this House quite soon that would lift the blanket ban on the six years rule in relation to making complaints against financial institutions, including insurance companies. This is another reason why we need to expedite that legislation. What I would like to hear from the Minister of State is his concern to create awareness with regard to this institution for thousands of customers. Let me explain what it did. It sold payment protection insurance to individuals, claiming that it had no interest in the underwriter, when it owned 100% of the underwriting insurance business. One other insurance company which we own 75% of had a similar case. Therefore, there is a reason why the Government would get involved in this, as it is the main shareholder in one of these institutions that, in my belief, were involved in this time of misselling.

See this speech in context