Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will respond to a couple of the points made. To provide some information, since the 2019 regulations were made, the Central Bank has received 28 subject rights requests. The regulations were applied in five of these responses. In only one case were the regulations invoked to withhold the entirety of the data request. This was a focused request for three or four specific documents and after a robust evaluation of these few documents, the bank was satisfied that the decision to withhold these data would not result in any disproportionate detriment to the individual concerned.

The Central Bank has a defined evaluation process for dealing with all cases where the regulations are invoked. These processes ensure that the necessity and proportionality requirements are robustly applied. The process also includes engagement with the Central Bank's data protection officer. To date, no complaints have been submitted through the Central Bank, nor is the bank aware of any complaints submitted to the Data Protection Commissioner about these regulations since they were originally passed.

I thank the Deputies for taking the time to address this motion. The issue of motor insurance was mentioned. It is a topic that I will be happy to discuss separately. I concur with Deputies about the profit level in the area. We will come back to that. The Government has a clear action plan for dealing with insurance. Today's report was on private motor insurance. I understand Deputy Naughten's remarks about the rights of customers.

However, the most important right of a customer is that the Central Bank ensures the financial stability of the bank. It is all well and good to have rights, but if the bank has gone bust one has no rights. The first function of the Central Bank is to regulate and protect the stability of the banks. That is the main thing customers want; they do not want to lose their money. I accept the point that there is an issue regarding the same institution having a role in consumer protection.

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