Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The amendment relates to an issue that was debated in the course of the passage of last year's Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland Act. It is important to note that the board of the financial regulator is a public interest board. We are talking about the board of a regulator, not a board where one brings in representatives from different sectors. The board's responsibility as regulator is, in itself, to take a detached view of the business of financial regulation and for that reason the Minister does not consider it desirable to be prescriptive about the composition of the board in the manner suggested by the amendment.

The authority's consumer director is an ex officio member of the board and the Minister is satisfied that the board has performed very well since its appointment in regard to consumer protection.