Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill, which Sinn Féin will be supporting. The Bill is quite technical in nature and is the first step in a process for which Sinn Féin has been calling for a long time. My colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, attempted to have the definition of whole-of-life policies amended because companies were still using the lack of clarity to avoid legislative provisions and Sinn Féin supported the Government amendments on Committee Stage in the Dáil. I will examine what the Minister of State said in terms of shoring up the definition.

The most important aspect of the Bill relates to the requirement that a customer must be informed if, for example, a provider of mortgages has a share interest of over 25% in an insurance company it recommends to that customer. This practice was recently found to be illegal in the context of a case that was eventually settled out of court. Relatively little is known about the case because it was settled out of court. The Central Bank cannot tell us any details about its investigations into the individual financial institutions even after the individual involved had made a disclosure to it. People will find that difficult to believe. A financial institution that broke the law by not informing a customer that it had a stake in a product it was recommending was taken to the High Court, lost the case and launched an appeal. The appeal was withdrawn and an out-of-court settlement, with a gagging order attached, was arrived at. People are asking why all of this is happening behind closed doors.

Out of this long process, there is nothing to dissuade the financial institution from repeating the same trick. Hundreds of people made disclosures to the Central Bank on this issue, but no one knows about this because the bank cannot provide updates on its investigations into the disclosures. The Minister and my colleagues will be aware of that on foot of what has been stated by officials from the Central Bank who appeared before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. It is astounding that we cannot be told the identities of these institutions. It is also astounding that there is a collective in place and that there is protection in respect of the type of behaviour to which I refer.Where is the protection for consumers? If consumers knew of the behaviour of a particular institution, they would be much better placed when making their choice of financial product provider.

The Bill seeks to shed light on the many financial transactions that take place every day and to attach clear financial and custodial penalties. In this country, we are still not comfortable with the idea that a banker in a suit can do time in prison for taking part in a practice that "everyone was up to", which seemingly makes it okay.

This culture needs to change. With an increasing amount of primary legislation pertaining to consumer protection, especially regarding financial products, is there now a need for a consolidated Act? The Companies Act 2014 consolidated all previous Companies Acts. While it runs to thousands of pages, it is the go-to unitary legislation for anyone involved in corporate governance. The legislation is needed to attach criminal sanctions to crimes listed in the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II or MiFID II. If the Government can specify criminal sanction for a financial crime, does it intend to apply this to other criminal actions in the financial and banking sector? My colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, has a Bill on the Order Paper which would make it a criminal offence to lie to the Central Bank. After many sessions in the finance committee trying to get to the bottom of ever-increasing insurance costs and resolving the tracker mortgage scandal, people will want to know that those who break the law face sanctions such as the penalty of up to ten years in prison and-or a fine of up to €10 million provided for in the Act.

Recently, the finance committee considered a large report from the Central Bank into the problems of the culture and management in the pillar banks that led to many of these scandals. The Central Bank told us that it is waiting for legislative changes to take place before it can pursue individuals for their actions in scandals such as the tracker mortgage issue. For this reason, I ask that as well as ensuring that this legislation progresses, we look at the many other changes that need to be put in place. We also need to see legislation on class actions progressed. My colleagues, Deputies Pearse Doherty and Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, have drafted this legislation and are seeking support for its progression through the Oireachtas as soon as possible. Today's Bill is welcome but should only form a small part of the change of culture which is backed up by sanction and investigation.