Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will turn to certain points in the Bill in a moment. The Minister has said today that certain banks are charging standard variable interest rates beyond what is acceptable. We all agree on that. We also acknowledge some of the movers in recent times. The Minister mentioned Bank of Ireland, but it is not just that bank. Permanent TSB is a State-owned bank yet it seems all of the threats have not worked. I use the word "threats" because the Minister has stated publicly that he will bring in a penal levy if the banks do not reduce their interest rates. He said he would bring in legislation like the legislation we are discussing this morning. Nevertheless, Permanent TSB, a State-owned institution, is absolutely fleecing its customers.

In terms of what the Central Bank has stated publicly and what it has hinted at, as the Minister stated, one of the major concerns in terms of whether it wants the powers or not, and it is the Oireachtas that decides the powers the Central Bank should have and it is then up to the Central Bank to decide how it uses them, is that it will not use those powers. If it does, we, as legislators, will have to consider what we do next, and my party will not be found wanting in that regard. A commitment we gave to the campaign group prior to the election, which other parties have given also, is that we would go to the next step. However, in terms of banks owned by the State charging 4% for loan to values of 80%, that is not much lower than that charged by Bank of Ireland. In the absence of this type of legislation, what action can we take to ensure that the banks the State owns stop fleecing its existing and new customers?