SOME 6,500 Irish members of Equitable Life will be included for consideration in the limited payments scheme announced by British treasury chief secretary Yvette Cooper yesterday, after she admitted "maladministration" by some regulatory bodies had contributed to policyholders' losses after the society's near-collapse eight years ago.

A treasury spokesman confirmed that Irish and other non-UK members would be included in former senior judge Sir John Chadwick's examination of individual losses, his assessment of which of them resulted from regulatory failures, and which investors were "disproportionately" affected.

Ms Cooper stressed that the primary responsibility for Equitable Life's difficulties lay with the society itself and that any eventual payments would have to "take account of the state of the public finances".

Following last year's critical report by parliamentary ombudsman Ann Abraham, the minister told MPs: "We agree there has been maladministration in several areas and that government action is merited. And I wish to apologise to policyholders on behalf of the public bodies and successive governments responsible for the regulation of Equitable Life between 1990 and 2001 for the maladministration we believe has taken place."

Ms Cooper also observed, however, that an official report by Lord Penrose in 2004 had identified the society's management as being mainly responsible for its financial problems, while telling MPs that policyholders could not expect to be fully compensated for their losses.

There would be "serious repercussions" for the taxpayer, government and regulation if compensation was paid each time regulators failed to stop a firm getting into trouble, Ms Cooper said.