If you have a personal dispute with a financial institution, you can complain to the Financial Services Ombudsman.
The Financial Regulator is now part of the Central Bank. You would only make a complaint to them if you suspected a systematic breach of a code by a bank. The Central Bank will acknowledge your complaint but is prevented from discussing it with you by the Central BAnk Act.
I just tried to email a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman...but their email address is rejecting my email. I suspect that I need to go down the old fashioned paper route
If they cant use online technology I guess a complaint about online banking is doomed to failure
You need to have gone through the financial institution's internal complaints procedure before the Ombudsman will deal with you. There is a timeframe within which the institution must respond to you (no longer than 40 days I think).
That said, i would provide the details to the Ombudsman's office straight away, it won't be acted upon but it might speed things up if you need to fall back on this process.
If you have submitted your complaint and the institution has refused mediation. Can you then ask for the reasons behind this refusal and decide at this stage to go to the high court?