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

The party of which I am a member is the one which introduced, with its colleagues in government at the time, the Central Bank regulations of 2014 and there is sufficient legislation available to the Central Bank to allow it take action against individuals if it believes a case is merited. The inference of the Deputy is that legislation is not in place to allow action be taken against individuals but it is if the Central Bank decides such action is merited. Of course, it is the same Central Bank with the same powers that have been granted by this Government, the previous Government and the one before that, which has levied such significant fines on financial sector companies over the past number of weeks in recognition of the gravity of concerns and misbehaviour with which those companies were involved.

The legislation is in place to allow action to be taken. Particular concerns relate to Articles 37 and 38 of our Constitution, as well as other articles, including Articles 40 to 45, inclusive, which concern the balance between the rights of the individual and the matters we are debating.

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