Tom Barry (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegation for a very informative meeting. I am one of those who believes lending without equity is reckless. Having 5% skin in the game is very low. We are talking about prices being elevated but I am not sure that is the way we want to go.

Who represents the person who pays the premium, namely the customer? Is there a representative body there? Every time I pay for something, I expect that I can represent myself and negotiate on it. If an insurer decides to pay out on a split mortgage, who deals with the customer? Does the insurance company come back to re-insure?

Is the maximum payment going to be €20,000? Does that change? The banks benefit from having this insurance in place. There has been sharp practice in banking and insurance in the past. People do not rightfully trust this area and trust in it needs to be won back. Should there not be full transparency? I like the idea of having separate billing for this mortgage insurance product. I would also like to see a separate assessment showing the banks’ benefit for this being in place. Essentially, a positive and a negative will be written down on the same statement.

What level of due diligence do the insurance companies seek to ensure the value of the mortgage is correct? What is done to ensure someone is not giving a false value? That practice was shocking here. It is not the insurance companies’ fault that people put on suits, calling themselves auctioneers and gave prices for property for which people could not pay ultimately. What is in place to ensure this does not re-occur?

What is the view on regional caps? There is a different property dynamic in Dublin than there is in Cork, our second city. Property values in Cork are still under 50% of what they were in the boom. Rents a few years ago would have been €1,000 a month but are only just coming back in at €900. Cork is not even at the races, so to speak. With these two parallel markets, is a regional cap required?

We need to get first-time buyers moving. For example, when combine harvesters are sold, up to six transactions could be involved. The little guy has to move on for the next guy to move on.

Is there the expertise and, more importantly, the culture in the banks to work with insurers? It is culture that counts. If someone comes into this with the wrong attitude, we will be screwed again. Would the insurers’ attitude to a State-owned bank be different?