Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The Senator will be glad to learn I may be able to help him on this amendment. The amendment does not take into account paragraph 57BB(d), for which I forgive him because the legislation is sequenced in a very difficult manner. The paragraph was inserted on Report Stage in the Dáil and is based on a similar amendment tabled by Deputy Richard Bruton. The new paragraph states that one of the objects in the Part of the Bill in question is "to improve public understanding of issues related to complaints against regulated financial service providers and related consumer protection matters." The ombudsman has, therefore, specific obligations under other sections of this Part to publish information on her or his activities and to advise the authority on steps it might take to address persistent patterns of complaint and to improve the manner in which financial institutions deal with a complaint.

The difference between the amendment and the paragraph inserted in the Dáil on the Minister's initiative reflects the view of the Parliamentary Counsel on what is an appropriate formulation for a section setting down the objects of this Part. I hope the Senator will accept that the Minister has gone some of the way to meeting the issues raised on this subject.