John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My point on that process is that I have come across cases of customers - not just in my constituency but also in the context of approaches at national level - who are certainly unable to repay their debts. They then find themselves in court. It seems that not every avenue has been examined in respect of some of those cases. I can give Mr. O'Keeffe examples but I do not want to go into the details. I am surprised that the cases in question are before the courts. Despite intervention to try to explain the situation through intermediaries, they remain before the courts. In other words, when the bank passes them to its legal representatives, they just take a course and end up either with a registrar or in the Circuit Court and it is impossible for some of them to be represented properly in those courts. They have to apply for free legal aid, which further adds to their distress and upset because they are dragged through all of this process without the appropriate supports in terms of solicitors and everything else. There must be something wrong with the process if cases like that end up with the registrar or the Circuit Court.

There is something wrong with the fact that when the bank passes its cases to its legal representatives, it becomes an inflexible process that just closes down in the interest of pushing the proceedings through the courts. Has the bank examined that matter? A number of Deputies and Senators attend these courts and what goes on is shocking. I have also said it to the Bank of Ireland that it is difficult to believe that such cases would be taking place in light of all the discussion we have had about saving family homes and working through all the options. One particular case comes to mind and I must set it out. The case in question involves two brothers living together, one of whom is now attending the department of psychiatry and has been for years. He is still getting letters from the bank's legal representatives despite the fact that it has torn his life asunder. His brother is now on the verge of the same thing. I am just asking the bank to review the process.