Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Will the Central Bank write to the committee as a matter of urgency with the additional legislative powers it requires?

Chairman, I believe it is vital that, as we come nearer the end of the year, we should consider getting a further update from the Central Bank as to where we stand on trackers.

I would like the banks to be sitting before the committee today. We really only have half the equation. We have the Central Bank – the regulator. The more I think about the banks, the angrier I get. Most of these banks were bailed out by the taxpayer. I suspect that if this investigation, late and all as it was to start, had never unfolded, then the banks would have pretended this was not going on. I have had people come to me in Limerick with various cases involving these institutions. They have sought documentation. They were being switched from tracker to fixed and from fixed to variable. Most of the time they cannot even find out precisely what the arrangement is. Many people were getting so worn down that they were going away by stealth. Manners must be put on the banks.

The banks cannot expect that things are back to normal. I remember in July 2008, the banks came before this committee. Many of them said there were no problems. One of the institutions, Bank of Ireland, said there were problems. A short time later they were back with the begging bowl looking for taxpayers' money with a night time raid on Government Buildings. The problem is that they are having it both ways. Let us consider the people on tracker mortgages. The banks are getting their money - I was going to say that it was resting in the banks' accounts. The banks are taking customers' money from over-charging them. Second, they are taking the same customers' money from the hard-paid taxes they have paid for services. That money ended up going into these banks. It was double jeopardy for the ordinary punter or tracker-mortgage holder.

I expect that the Central Bank would apply the firm arm of the regulator to ensure this matter is resolved post-haste by the end of the year.