Dáil Bill to strengthen consumers against banks acting in the wrong – Pearse Doherty

PEARSE DOHERTY has tabled a Dáil Bill which he says is “a major step forward in empowering consumers against financial institutions who have acted in the wrong”.

The Sinn Féin Finance spokesperson credited “the excellent work of the Free Legal Advice Centre and their Redressing the Imbalance paper” which informs a large part of the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill.

He explained that the primary aim is to replace the strict six-year Statute of Limitations with an alternative where the six-year or a two-year rule since a consumer became aware of the infringement rule would apply.

“This would be a major step forward in empowering consumers against financial institutions who have acted in the wrong,” Pearse Doherty said.

The Bill also includes measures to give the right to a consumer to appeal a Financial Services Ombudsman decision to the Circuit Court instead of the more costly and legally limited High Court to put greater pressure on financial institutions to engage in a mediation process and to empower the Financial Services Ombudsman to provide a greater range of findings in his reports.

Pearse Doherty said:

“I hope this Bill can be debated in the Dáil in the near future as the tracker investigations and any other number of bank behaviour issues are in danger of slipping through the legal loophole of the Statute of Limitations.”