Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 15 together.

Appeals form an important part of the overall tracker mortgage examination process as they ensure an independent and transparent consideration of complaints from customers about any aspect of the redress and compensation they have been offered.

The Central Bank advises that, as part of the framework for conducting the tracker examination, lenders are required to put in place an appeals process as set out by the Central Bank. The Central Bank expects that lenders have put in place the necessary processes to ensure the appeals panel can operate in accordance with the requirements of the tracker framework, including that all relevant and available information which an appeal panel requests is provided by the lender to the panel so that it may consider and decide upon an appeal.

Where a customer who has appealed remains dissatisfied with the outcome of the appeal and does not accept the findings of the appeals panel, he or she retains the option to bring a complaint to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman. The Deputy might indicate if he knows whether this has happened in the case he raised. The Central Bank does not have a detailed role in the operation of the appeals process. If the Deputy provides information on a particular case, including the case he raised, directly to the Central Bank, the bank will consider any information provided.

On Deputy Michael McGrath's question, Deputies will be aware that the Governor of the Central Bank provided an update when he attended a meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach on 4 October. At that meeting, he indicated that, as of the end of August, lenders had identified 38,400 affected customers and paid €580 million in redress and compensation. The redress and compensation phases of the tracker mortgage examination are now significantly advanced, with 93% of affected customer accounts identified and verified and they had received offers of redress and compensation by 31 August.

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