The main reason for this legislation is to give recourse to those people who are currently denied access to the services of the Financial Services Ombudsman because of the six-year rule statute of limitations.
Over the last five years 3,000 people have been refused because of this rule. These are the official figures but all sides accept that the real figure is much higher because people know about the rule and so don’t apply or they ring up the Ombudsman and are told about the rule so never officially apply.
This Sinn Féin bill, which is one of the first opposition bills to pass the Dáil and progress through the Seanad, is a positive response to the disastrous regulation of the financial services industry to date.
Sinn Féin is more than willing to challenge and expose financial institutions that have misled their customers using every avenue available to us. However we are also a party of workable solutions to difficulties currently faced by consumers.
I hope too that we can show unity to the families waiting for this Bill to pass by prioritising it for the remaining Stages as soon as possible. There are families watching tonight and urging us to progress this Bill and to put in place a time frame for it to be passed.
Every week and month that passes means more misery for those who continue to feel abandoned and hopeless in the face of wrongdoing by financial institutions.
