Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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59. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of determinations that were made by the Financial Services Ombudsman; the number of these that were appealed; the number of these appeals that were successful; the total legal cost of these appeals over the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42847/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I received the following information from the office of the Financial Services Ombudsman Bureau: During the period from 1 January 2010 to 8 October 2013, the Financial Services Ombudsman (FSO) received a total of 29, 640 complaints; he issued some 10,753 findings during the same period. 142 findings were appealed to the High Court i.e. 1.32% of the finding issued. There have been 6 appeals to the Supreme Court to date.

Of the 142 appeals:

- 21 were allowed by the Court

- 26 were dismissed by the Court

- 19 were remitted to the FSO on consent

- 44 were withdrawn/settled/closed/adjourned for other reasons

- 32 are on going

The FSO's own legal costs from 1 January 2010 to date, including VAT was €2,586,832. This figure also includes the costs of the 6 Supreme Court appeals and some High Court appeals prior to 2010. High Court costs in appeals are awarded at the discretion of the Court. The payment and/or recovery of costs awarded in favour of or against the FSO are subject to negotiation and/or a recovery process, much of which is ongoing in respect of the period from 1 January 2010 to date. However not all costs awarded to the FSO lead to recovery either fully or partially, while every opportunity is taken to recover same.