Financial Services
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-28
============================================================

Robert Troy (FF), Longford-Westmeath

The Senator has made a very strong point on behalf of returning emigrants . It is a sign of a good, successful economy that people want to return home. However, with that, some problems arise. There are regulatory frameworks governing the provision of mortgages and car insurance for consumers, which are designed to protect consumers and overall financial stability. Within that overall framework, it is a business decision for mortgage and insurance providers to decide whether to provide a mortgage, loan or car insurance. In considering an application, regulated entities must act in a fair and reasonable manner and seek to serve the best interests of the individual consumer. I will take on board what the Senator said today, and I make a commitment that I will engage with Brokers Ireland, Insurance Ireland and representatives of the banking bodies to make sure that they are dealing with returning emigrants in a fair, proportionate and transparent manner.
If a consumer is not satisfied with how a regulated firm is dealing with them in relation to a mortgage or car insurance, they can make a complaint directly to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman. Nobody wants to go down that route. The Senator has made a valid point. Someone who has worked abroad, accumulated savings and had a good track record should be able to transfer that to Ireland. I will raise that point directly on foot of the Senator’s representations with the representative bodies for the bank, Brokers Ireland and Insurance Ireland.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:33+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-28