Let's look at the Central Bank in a balanced way....
First, they were very slow to do anything about the tracker issue. Deduct marks for that.
Second, they persuaded the lenders to go well beyond their legal obligations. About 30,000 borrowers have got significant redress. My guess is that about 1,000 of these would have succeeded in the Ombudsman's Office if they had taken a complaint. A big plus for the Central Bank.
AIB was absolutely clear that these 6,000 borrowers have suffered no loss and so they were refusing point blank to even write to them telling them that there had been an issue.
The Central Bank persuaded AIB to write to all of them and give them the right of appeal - a big plus for the Central Bank.
AIB refused to go any further. It is not the role of the Central Bank to make a legal determination. That is up to the courts. So even if the Central Bank believes that the borrowers have a strong case, they can't force AIB to concede it.
Governor Lane at the Oireachtas Committee appeared to lend support to AIB's case by saying that the tracker rates would have been much higher. I will deduct marks for that.
Derville Rowland later rowed back from that.
So overall? Late to the party, but a good performance since they arrived. Maybe 8/10.
Brendan