Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 26 November 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform

Overview of Banking Sector: Central Bank

3:40 pm

Photo of Peadar TóibínPeadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sometimes we have a pro-cyclical experience whereby, straight after a crash, there is a movement towards a drying-up of credit, etc. It makes the cycle deeper and worsens it. It seems to me that the things we do in a recession, we should be doing at the top of the market, and the things we do at the top of the market we should do during recessions. We actually get it wrong, and this is an example of it. Due to the fact that we have been burnt by the top of the market, our behaviour has swung and made the bottom of the market even worse, particularly from the supply side.

I have been told that up to 500 eviction cases are in front of the courts on a weekly basis. Obviously, this has not happened by accident. It must be happening as a result of the policies of the banks. Those policies are obviously regulated to a certain extent by the Central Bank, so they are being at least tolerated by the Central Bank. Is this the case and why is it happening?

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