The chairman of the Irish Financial Regulatory Authority has described as 'absolutely absurd' allegations that his office was negligent in dealing with customer overcharging issues at Allied Irish Bank.
Last month, a former internal auditor in AIB, Eugene McErlean, said the Financial Regulator knew about overcharging in the bank in 2001, but later gave the false impression it only became aware of it in 2004.
The authority was before an Oireachtas Committee today to respond to allegations that it knew about AIB overcharging its customers sooner than it admitted.
The authority's Jim Farrell said his office was not involved in any kind of cover up or negligent in any way and described these allegations as 'ill informed and damaging'.
But Mr Farrell said he did not want his comment to reflect on Mr McErlean's good faith.
Senator Shane Ross criticised the authority, by saying the history of the Financial Regulator is shameful and said it did not want to know anything that would be embarrassing to the banks.
He also said the organisation was one of the most secretive in the state.
The issue will be raised again when AIB are before the committer in a couple of weeks time.
Meanwhile, the acting chief executive of the Financial Regulator has warned against policy holders rushing into changing their mortgages.
In a statement, Mary O'Dea urged consumers to 'consider the longer term affects it will have on you and balance the benefits of short-term manageability of monthly repayments against the overall cost.'
