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

When Mr. Mallon's bank suffered, and I will come back to Deputy McGrath again and other members if they want to put questions, the bank took immediate aggressive action against those in the small and medium business sector by dumping them but when he is asked to save a family in distress, with special needs children whose lives are being affected, he cannot even answer "Yes". When I asked him about the questions, he says he might not have some of the answers.

For example, why were we placed in GRG? What was the expected outcome? The witnesses should know the answers to these questions and they should not have to get three reminders from a customer asking the same questions over and over again.

Mr. Mallon should not have come in here today to give us another groundhog day event with all this correspondence piling in on top of us. He has already received some of the correspondence and the bank has asked customers to contact it directly. The bank gives a phone number but when the customers contact the bank the person at the other end cannot even answer the questions. That is why people are annoyed. They have no confirmation of anything and nothing definite to say the bank will deal with their case with replies to the correspondence of which I have been speaking. It may be correspondence to us, as members of the committee, but it is also correspondence the bank has received. I find it shocking that, in some cases, the bank does not give a straight answer. I understand the complexities of this but the witnesses have been at this for a number of years and I am not at all happy at the manner in which they have replied to the questions here today. They have heard what I have said and are aware of the correspondence because it is copied to them. I would like to know, by return after this meeting, what they are going to do in regard to some of this correspondence. I will not press them further on it today but this is appalling behaviour on the part of the bank.