Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes, I mean, the trackers have been a problem all the time and I haven't come up with any solution for the trackers. I suppose, for the people who have tracker mortgages, the assurance is that they hold their trackers at the interest rates that was agreed at the time. I mean, I saw proposals that ... saying we should bring down the variable and increase the trackers but, you know, try that out when you're door-knocking with people who have tracker mortgages. So that wasn't a solution.

In John Moran's time as Secretary General, we had a proposal but it didn't go very far that the Central Bank would agree that we'd park the trackers in the Irish Central Bank and take them off the banks' balance sheets so that they wouldn't have the effect on profitability that you reference.

And, as a consequence, charges across the spectrum then could be reduced, you know. But again, monetary financing, and they wouldn't agree it, so it didn't run.