Dáil debates
Wednesday, 5 March 2025
Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages
11:30 am
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source
It is only known to people who attend the public hearing. There is a publication thereafter of the findings. There is also then a second thing.
I will go back to a point and finish on it. It is a David and Goliath scenario. People come to me all the time and I tell them the FSPO is a great system because people do not have to get lawyers or barristers. They can take out a pen and paper and write their story. They do not have to worry about how well it is written or whatever else and can send it to the FSPO. It will assist people in finding where the complaint is and all the rest. Some people will be gung-ho and will want to have that in public. However, most people will not. That is the reality. If their complaint is upheld, they would like the institution to be named. In that circumstance where they have not exposed themselves, their vulnerability and what they might believe to be their inadequacies, whether grounded or not, if they have decided not to hold the hearing in public, can the financial institution's name be published? I have argued that a discretion should be there.
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