, i can mention that, in addition to the enforcement role, we have just announced the creation of new senior level positions with responsibility for markets supervision and policy and risk. supervision will be calibrated to the risks posed by the different firms in the sector and will involve applying the existing rule - book, strengthened as necessary to plug the holes revealed by the crisis. in particular, we will not be slow to implement new stronger rules, being developed as we speak, by international bodies such as the basel committee. despite the extensive powers already available to the regulatory authorities, it would be useful and appropriate to have clarity on a number of additional points ; these are being discussed at present with the department of finance with a view to their inclusion in the proposed legislation restructuring the central bank. one particular area relates to the requirements of confidentiality, which ( as they are currently being interpreted ) seem to go well beyond what is necessary or appropriate for the purpose of ensuring privacy of customers and commercial interests. as things stand, the regulatory staff can end up appearing passive and defensive when called to speak on specific issues in public. a final aspect of safety and soundness to which i would like to refer is the admission of large and complex export - oriented firms into the irish market. i welcome the participation of foreign - owned firms – both those aiming to supply the domestic market and those that are export - oriented – they provide competition and business opportunities. but the crisis has revealed the reputational risks to ireland of having a failure in such an entity. this means that we have to redouble our efforts to ensure that only sound institutions are allowed to enter and that they are comprehensively supervised to ensure that they continue to be sound. i will certainly not allow ireland to become a soft option for firms or activities that are no longer welcome elsewhere. this means more supervisory staff with the necessary skill levels ; these can be paid for by a levy on the supervised firms ( i think we should move towards a 100 % chargeback basis ). i also feel, though, that specific steps need to be taken to ensure that there is no expectation that the state would come in to take exceptional steps to rescue such entities. 3. consumer protection consumer protection cannot and will not be ignored in the regulatory structure. failures here are not as spectacular as a solvency crisis, but can be as damaging to the affected consumers. there will be no downgrading of this aspect of the regulatory work. the statutory codes of conduct for mortgage and sm

conducted. i expect that the oireachtas will, in time, decide to authorise some form of inquiry to try to understand the deeper, underlying causes of this crisis so that wider lessons can be learnt for the future. in considering how best to do this, i suggest that new models need to be explored. the crisis is not simply a question of discovering who did what and who knew what. uncovering the deep roots of the crisis will require expertise and broad social scientific understanding more than merely forensic skills.