The individual we do not like has just as many rights as another we perceive we like for one reason or another. They are rights holders in our society as much as any other person, and their human rights and process rights must be protected as much as those of any other person in any other process. It is very important, therefore, to go through this in some detail. I might outline the technical aspects and add some colour along the way. On the duty of full disclosure, the Senator is absolutely correct that the indiv…

Yes, but I believe we have built it in. I apologise; I do not know if I am supposed to be answering the Senator.

Yes, that has already been built into the Bill throughout each set of processes.

Sure.

Essentially.

I thank the Senator and of course it is not in the legislation as he has drafted it, which specifies a general duty that applies to all things, rather it is built into the operation of each section. I think I took the Senator-----

Yes. I may refer to page numbers in the Bill but section 43 of the Bill inserts new sections, section 33ANJ and section 33ANK into the 1942 Act and this is just by way of example, in addition to section 15, in respect of the contents, for example, of the notice for investigation, the notice about the investigation and any changes to that. There are specific requirements about what it needs to contain and the identification of the contravention. I am paraphrasing because I have read some of that into the record and …

I thank the Senator. I am not sure that I said it could be looked at again. I said if the need arises and there are difficulties, it could be looked at again. As in all matters of legislation, we have to go back and fix our mistakes. That sort of speaks to one of the points I wish to make on this issue. We need to think about this more broadly. People are going to make mistakes throughout their careers. They are going to make mistakes of process. A lot of it is about whether those are mistakes of fact or intentiona…

That is correct.

The limitation on judicial review is precisely because, as the Senator stated, there is an appeal process to the Irish financial services appeals tribunal, which is an appropriately comprised judge-led body with appropriate processes that is specifically there for that purpose. That is the limitation. Obviously, any other decision relating to the bank can be reviewed through judicial review. Specifically in respect of this issue, however, as an appeal process has been built into the model, there is the limitation o…

Forgive me; I will have to ask my officials to check that for the Senator.

I thank the Senator Gavan for moving the amendment on behalf of Senators Black and Higgins. I understand the Senator's concern, which I share, that the Bill should have a positive effect and that this should be spread as widely as possible throughout the country. The point of the Bill is to further enhance the regulatory and cultural changes that were made in the financial services industry following the very serious situation that led to the financial crash. This was reflected in the dialogue Senator McDowell and …

I cannot accept an amendment that deals with something that has not happened yet. The basic principle of legislation is certainty and transparency and this is not yet in law. The directive is not in force. The Council position was only agreed in December 2022 and has yet to go to the European Parliament. Once agreed, the directive will become law. If it refers to financial services businesses, there will be a requirement on those businesses to comply with the directive but I simply cannot refer to a directive that …

Some context and background is appropriate to where these amendments are being placed. Section 6 is an important part of the Bill that provides for duties and standards to support the introduction of the accountability element of the Bill but, most importantly, it provides for the balances that are required to ensure the robustness of the provisions from a constitutional perspective as we have discussed in some detail already. Section 53B imposes a legal duty on those individuals who are performing pre-approval con…

I will deal with each amendment in turn. Amendment No. 11 seeks to insert "rights and" after "the". The insertion of the text proposed in the amendment is already encompassed in the current wording. From a drafting perspective, it does not add anything to that which is already in the existing wording, and I do not accept the amendment. Amendment No. 12, which seeks to insert "or who are impacted by its activities" after “engages”, creates a drafting problem. It would impact on the conduct standards provision. Indiv…

The point of the legislation is to extend a more significant regime to those who already have fitness and probity responsibilities and, as I have said, to the conduct standards to a much larger group of people, more junior in financial institutions, who will now come under a different regulatory regime. That is very important. Section 32L of the Central Bank Act 1942 provides that the Central Bank shall prepare a statement regarding the Central Bank's performance in regulating financial services, which is provided …

As we have discussed, the purpose of the Bill is to provide a better regulatory structure in light of the difficulties we have faced. It adds to the suite of legislation and regulatory changes that have been made precisely for the reason the Senator outlined, which is to benefit society more broadly. We have seen the impact of the breakdown of regulation. As the Senator is aware, we have significantly extended the number of people who will have obligations under the legislation. It is self-evident that preventing p…

As I signalled on Second Stage, these are transitional provisions. They determine the extent to which an inquiry that is already under way at the time the relevant provisions of the Bill are commenced shall be affected by the provisions. It is important that the changes necessitated by the Zalewski judgment in regard to the appeal and court confirmation of inquiry decisions take effect at the earliest practicable opportunity. Amendment No. 23 is necessary to provide clarity that section 94 will operate as intended …

I thank the Deputy for the question. This measure was introduced in the Finance Act 2019, with a lead-in period to 1 January this year. The purpose of this lead-in period was to allow fleet planning by corporate organisations that were planning leases, which are typically over three years, to enable a transition to electric vehicles and others. This is a carbon-based measure that brings the benefit-in-kind taxation regime into line with other vehicle taxation regimes, such as motor tax and vehicle registration tax,…

I thank the Deputy for the question. I am happy to look at the circumstances of an individual case and have the Department examine it to provide guidance. As I said, the purpose of this benefit-in-kind legislation is to bring it in line with other taxes from an emissions perspective. I will go through the bands the Deputy separately. I appreciate that in 2019 we could not have anticipated the inflationary environment or cost of energy, which is now very different. I will revert to the Deputy on the specifics of the…