Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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105. To ask the Minister for Finance when he will formally publish legislation on the amalgamation of the offices of the Financial Services Ombudsman and the Pensions Ombudsman. [38328/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware, the Department is progressing the development of the legislation to underpin the amalgamation of the Financial Service Ombudsman and the Pensions Ombudsman. The Government agreed outline Heads of a Bill to provide for the amalgamation of offices in 2015 and both offices have been physically merged in one location.  Recent legislative changes have enabled the appointment of the Financial Services Ombudsman as Pensions Ombudsman. 

The Heads of Bill on the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman were published on the website of the Department of Finance on 5 October 2016.  The heads were debated at Pre-Legislative Scrutiny on the 27th October 2016 and we await the report of the Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and the Taoiseach.

The Bill is a priority Bill for my Department, but is a fairly lengthy Bill with nearly 60 heads to be drafted.  My staff are working with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel on the drafting of the Bill. It is hoped that it will be published early in 2017.