Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That reply is deeply disappointing. The reality is that the Central Bank has asked for these powers to hold senior executives in our banking system accountable, and the Minister is talking about going to the Government to seek approval to draft the heads of a Bill. He has not done that yet and is hoping to do that in the coming months. That does not sound to me like it is a Government priority or that we are likely to see this senior executive accountability regime introduced any time soon. The Minister knows well what the catalyst for all of this was. It was, of course, the tracker mortgage scandal, which continues to this day. The single largest outstanding issue in that tracker scandal relates to AIB. There are 6,000 customers in what is known as the prevailing rate group. I am sure the Minister is familiar with it and I encourage him to read over the transcript of our questioning of AIB's executives at the committee last week. That issue is going to go the full distance. The Minister should look at it and if he has a view on it - I hope he does - he should express that view. The measure of culture change is whether or not the banks, when decisions can go either way, make decisions in favour of the consumer.

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