Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. We had a discussion on this matter on Committee Stage. I took the view that the mediation section that the Government has put forward is welcome. I echo what the Minister of State has said in terms of welcoming the positive results that we are seeing from the Financial Services Ombudsman Bureau in terms of the use of mediation. It is a voluntary process.

The change in subsection (1) that would have removed "shall" and replaced it with "may" could have been used by some financial institutions as a way of trying to avoid mediation. That was the reason for some concern. We tabled an amendment, but we are happy to accept the Government drafting. It is identical in function, but the drafting, as the Minister of State pointed out, fits more neatly with his legislation.

For full information, amendment No. 9 has exactly the same text that appears in the Seanad Bill, which is the Sinn Féin Private Members’ Bill. On that basis, we will not proceed with amendment No. 10.

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