Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is the second time that I have seen Mr. Kissane appear before this committee and I thank him for his ongoing fight for justice for tracker mortgage victims. Up to 20,000 people have now been affected by this financial fraud by a number of institutions. I also welcome Ms Grogan, Ms Melbourne, Ms Byrne and Mr. Ryan to the committee. Having spoken to many tracker mortgage victims, I am aware that many will talk in confidence but are reluctant to come forward to speak publicly. This is completely understandable, so I thank the four witnesses for sharing their stories with us.

The last time Mr. Kissane was here, he surprised some of us with what he said about the Central Bank. He asked the committee and everyone affected by this to place a degree of trust in the Central Bank to do its job and to allow it the time to do so. That is understandable and we are obviously carrying out the review. My question now, several months now, is as follows: has Mr. Kissane's confidence in the ability of the Central Bank to hold the banks to account been shaken in any way over the last few months? Could the Central Bank be doing more, and is it keeping up enough pressure on the banks? I am sure that Mr. Kissane has monitored the discussions of this committee. One bank in particular has told us that it will not meet the targets set down by the Central Bank. Other banks have told us that while they know that some of their customers are currently on the wrong tracker rate, they have still not put them back on the right tracker rate. Should and could the Central Bank be doing more here? If so, what should it be doing?