Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

If my Department made that simple oversight, the Senator would have me before the House next week and the week after. Via a telephone call, we could have explained what we were doing, why we were doing it, why there was a small sample size and why the decision on transaction accounts was made. When I was asked to attend this debate, I dropped everything and automatically said, "Yes." I respect this House and the time it devotes to important debates. A simple telephone call or e-mail would have explained clearly and honestly why this was done, namely, for good management reasons. What would happen if we wanted to contact our client base to say there was a new transaction account for customers? We would be asked why we had not trialled it first or anticipated 500 telephone calls per day, instead of only allocating ten people. This sample gives us a good idea of the level of business the queries will generate. However, we subsequently ran into scaremongering which did not just relate to this issue; rather, it appeared to be a knee-jerk reaction in which everyone believed the worst.

I will correct Senator John Whelan on one matter. We have a nice little dove on the top of our letters rather than a harp. It is a peaceful dove.