Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill, which is, at the very least, a step in the right direction in terms of redressing the power imbalance that has operated for decades in this State when it comes to consumer and financial institutions, be they banks, vulture funds or any other financial entity. In that sense, we can achieve the stated objectives of this Bill around strengthening protections within the framework of legislation that underpins the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman so it can continue to carry out its statutory functions in line with the Constitution. It will be a good day’s work if we can achieve all of that.

One of the issues that I would like clarity on relates to the operation and staffing of the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman. This is important because while we can have all the legislation we like, if the capacity of the FSPO remains limited or if it simply does not have the number of expert staff it requires to assist the consumer or small business, then, at best, the process will amount to a form of hypocrisy. We know, for example, that in providing a dispute resolution service to assist the resolution of complaints by mediation, the FSPO does so through the work of dispute resolution officers. I can only assume that the number of such officers is going to be significantly increased. If not, the introduction of these amendments today, at least in terms of protections, will not be worth the paper they are written on. There are already serious backlogs and time delays within the dispute resolution process. Is there any recruitment campaign to increase the number of staff? Perhaps the Minister of State can revert to me with a reply on that in due course.

I welcome section 14 of the Bill, which clarifies the respective remits of the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman and the credit reviewer. It is only right and proper that the ombudsman may accept a complaint where a financial service provider or pension provider has initiated legal proceedings in order to frustrate or delay its investigation. This is the kind of process that financial services providers can and often do engage in. They have massive resources and they can tie up an ordinary person or small business in expensive knots for years. We need to actively and robustly discourage that kind of approach. Again, as I have said from the outset, the Bill must redress the gross power imbalance that currently exists.

With regard to section 15, which deals with the requirement for financial service providers and pension providers to establish internal dispute resolution, IDR, procedures for dealing with complaints and to publish those procedures, I find it incredible that there is currently no statutory obligation for pension providers to have IDR processes in place or for them to be publicly available. This is also one of those mechanisms that keep ordinary people in the dark and effectively clueless about how to navigate the dispute process when they are engaging with financial services.

The main point I want to make is that we have lived for decades in a society where the might of banks, and now vulture funds, has effectively been allowed to operate with impunity against the interests of those in financial distress. In theory, we have any number of consumer protections, as well as the Central Bank and so on. However, in reality, it is those with the deepest pockets who usually triumph. The courts are full of people in distress who feel they have been abandoned by a regulatory process that they do not understand and cannot find justice within.

That has to change. The legal and legislative apparatus of the State have to be directed against any financial provider or pension provider that wants to burden ordinary taxpayers with a maze of complicated complaints resolution processes. If the Bill before us can assist with changing that situation for people who are in distress, it will be very welcome indeed. It will certainly have my support if it does that.

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