The Government will come under attack today for failing to provide the financial regulator with the powers to punish institutions guilty of serious misconduct.
Labour's finance spokeswoman, Ms Joan Burton, will raise the AIB overcharging scandal at a meeting of the Oireachtas Financial Committee this afternoon in light of what she called the Government's "total failure" to accept any responsibility for the absence of an effective regulatory framework to punish kind of malpractice exposed in AIB over the last week.
Ms Burton said the legislation to beef up the powers of the financial regulator, IFSRA, has been making its way through the Dáil and Seanad at a snail's pace with "no sense of urgency from its ministerial promoters."
She added that financial regulation has been on the political agenda since 1998, but the Government has yet to finalise the passage of a full legislation package.
Ms Burton called for the Government to list the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority Bill for immediate completion in the Oireachtas.
Moreover, the Bill's provision for 60 persons to be appointed to various panels, boards, and regulatory bodies should mean that genuine representatives of consumer organisations are appointed rather than the "usual suspects" from banks and financial institutions, Ms Burton added.