Pearse Doherty TD
SINN Féin Finance Spokesperson Pearse Doherty TD has today tabled a Bill (Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill) on the Dáil Order Paper that, if passed, would remove the six year Statute of Limitations on complaints against banks and other financial institutions.
The issue was recently raised by the Central Bank as a concern in the light of ongoing tracker mortgage investigations by banks.
Deputy Doherty said: “I am pleased to have this Bill restored to the Order Paper. Its primary aim is to replace the strict six year Statute of Limitations with an alternative where the six year rule or a two year 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.
“The Bill is based on large part on the excellent work of the Free Legal Advice Centre and their ‘Redressing the Imbalance’ paper. It also includes measures to give a 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.
“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.”