I want to speak on behalf of ordinary decent people out there who did the right thing all their lives. They worked hard, saved carefully and tried to put some money aside for their retirement. The problem is what happens when they are struck down with cancer, which is a very serious ailment that can in some cases lead to life-threatening situations. In more cases, it does not and they make a good recovery. There has to be some leverage there for these people who have gone back to normal life and deserve that understanding of the situation they are in. There is not much understanding in the financial sector for such people because I have heard from people who were not wealthy investors but rather were farmers, small business owners or working families. They went to financial advisers in good faith and like anyone else, they took reassurance from seeing that these advisers were registered with the Central Bank of Ireland. They believed that meant something. They believed it meant oversight, protection and accountability but when things go wrong, and I have seen this at first hand in my own constituency, the reassurance counts for little. People have lost hundreds of thousands or even millions of euro of their life savings and what are they told? They are told the Central Bank does not deal with the individual complaints and are sent down a long road of process and paperwork while their futures hang in the balance. Meanwhile the very individuals who are responsible can shut down one company, walk away and set up again under a different name still operating, still authorised and still dealing with people's money. This is simply not good enough. What message does that send? It sends the message that there are no real consequences for those who mislead or fail their clients. We are told compensation schemes exist but they are limited and do not cover the reality of what many people have lost. For someone who has lost his or her pension or savings, €20,000 is not protection; it is an insult. What is the point of Central Bank registration if it offers no real protection when it is needed most? I raised this issue before and people out there listening today will be asking what has changed because from where they stand, nothing has changed. It is time to strengthen accountability, to ensure that individuals and not just companies are held responsible and to fix a system where people can walk away from the damage they have caused and simply start again because at the end of the day, this is not about regulation on paper. It is about real people, real losses, real health issues and real consequences. It is about people I have sat down with and listened to - people who are left devastated and even suicidal. Right now, far too many people are being left to carry the cost alone.

Sentiment score: -0.12