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

I wish to discuss Mr. Byrne's opening statement, especially the line where he said:

We must be keenly aware of the impact of our actions beyond the immediate economic environment and take into account issues with social consequences. To that end, we make our customers, our communities and the broader economy an integral part of all our planning and strategies.

I have never seen such sentences before in the opening remarks of a bank. It is an acknowledgement of where we are now in terms of banking and all of the challenges that are faced by individuals. However, in the next paragraph Mr. Byrne said, "Likewise EBS, a separate brand but under the AIB Group, will continue to keep its interest rates under review." I have received a letter that I shall not read in full. However, I want to reflect the opinion expressed by the huge number of people who, as customers of EBS, wrote not just to me as Chairman but, I am sure, to other members of the committee:

As you know several rate cuts have not been passed on to customers, many of whom are struggling despite record historically low ECB rates. AIB customers receive the benefit of some of these rate cuts but despite the EBS being in the ownership of the State owned bank, EBS existing customers have not. Instead, we have continued to be used to bolster the balance sheets of the bank to mitigate their reduced profits or tracker mortgages and to enable cash-back offers to be given to new customers. As a customer in negative equity I am hit on the double as I cannot even vote with my feet and switch. Those in the direst of circumstances with arrears and damaged credit ratings are the worst hit with artificially high rates and no option of switching, possibly ever.

I brought that to the attention of witnesses because it reflects the message expressed in the numerous letters and emails we have received. I have heard the various responses by the witnesses. As they are the people responsible for the EBS as well, they should take the message into consideration. It is not a one-off and Deputy Michael McGrath addressed the matter earlier. I feel obliged, as Chairman, to mention the message to the witnesses.

The witnesses are to be commended for the social housing project or initiative. How will it be rolled out? I mean in terms of judging the success of the first tranche. I can see from the tabular statement provided by the witnesses that court hearing are in progress in 3,347 cases. It would appear that in the course of 2017 and 2018 we will see far more repossessions being achieved by financial institutions or the institutions being successful in terms of their court hearings. Can the bank further examine all of these cases? Can it minimise the number of cases that go to court? Can it offer a solution either through an agency or otherwise to ease the pain for these families? I have seen them in court and it is not a pleasant place to be. Some of them are lay litigants and are defending themselves and so on. Some of us in this House have put forward the National Housing Co-operative Bill 2017 in order to start a conversation on providing a way out for these people. Do the witnesses have broader thoughts in terms of what is on offer, the court figures and solutions?