The Central Bank, the Director of Consumer Affairs, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Finance have been criticised for engaging in a "turf war" over control of the proposed single regulatory authority for financial services.
Following submissions presented by each interested party to the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service, the committee chairman, Mr Michael Noonan, said the parties should seek a compromise over the location of the proposed authority, instead of engaging in a turf war for their own interests.
The issue is due to come before the Cabinet in the coming weeks.
Mr Noonan said the committee strongly believed there should be a single regulatory authority, the only remaining question was its location.
A representative of the Department of Finance, Mr Tom Considine, said his department favoured making the authority a separate division within the Central Bank.
He said this would provide a high level of accountability and "address the need for change while preserving what is already working well". Earlier, in his submission, the governor of the Central Bank, Mr Maurice O'Connell, said the authority would function best within the Central Bank framework.
He said the debate on the financial regulator had been driven by concern for the consumer and while this was understandable, it should not be blind to the importance of prudential supervision.
Mr O'Connell said: "If we wanted new structures to deal with regulation of the IFSC, we had better be very sure of our ground, before we throw away a system that, by common consent, is working very well."
The Director of Consumer Affairs, Ms Carmel Foley, said it was important to start from scratch and build a single regulatory authority that had consumer protection on an equal footing with prudential concerns, however.
Ms Foley added that consumer confidence had been shattered by recent scandals in the finance sector and any new regulatory authority would need to enjoy the confidence of Government and the consumer.
A representative of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr John Corcoran, said there was a need for a bold move by Government and the Oireachtas to create a purpose-built financial regulator.
