Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The Bill provides that the consumer Director is appointed by the other members of the regulatory authority. However, the Minister for Finance must give his or her approval before the appointment takes effect. The approval of the Minister is to ensure proper procedures have been followed by the authority. For example, the recent appointment of the person to fill the consumer director post was made after an open and extensive recruitment process. It does not seem necessary or appropriate that the Minister for Finance should have to consult any other Minister about the appointment because the function of the Minister for Finance in this regard is to ensure proper procedure has been followed.

Once this legislation is enacted, the regulatory authority in the bank will report to the Minister for Finance and, as such, he or she will be the Minister with responsibility for consumer affairs in so far as they relate to financial services. In this respect, the Senator's amendment is unnecessary and I will not accept it. However, I must commend him on his sense of humour in tabling the amendment because how often in the Oireachtas do we enact legislation which provides that a particular step cannot be taken without the consent of the Minister for Finance?