Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for being here today. They have played an important role in articulating precisely the common sense approach that is sadly lacking. The Waterford Whispers Newsarticle in which the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, points his finger at the banks, saying "bad bank", "very bad bank", "bold, bold bank", while at the same time they carry on regardless probably best sums up the situation we are in. While I accept the point that people across the House have grappled with these issues, the reality is that they have not succeeded precisely because they paid homage to the banks. The same applies to the vulture funds. Many people will welcome that there is now an organisation bidding against them. Yesterday, I received a message from a friend who had received a letter that morning stating that his loan, presumably along with a batch of others, was being sold by Dankse Bank. Upon inquiry, he learned that the loans were being transferred to Cerberus. His attitude is if Dankse Bank is getting a write-down on his loan because of his tracker rate, why can he not avail of that and get a new loan, thereby freeing up money that he is dumping into a bank to be spent in the local economy, which would be a win-win for everybody?

I have two questions for the witnesses. Mr. Hall referenced a quicker move to have property sold because of this legislation. The legislative process is incredibly slow. It takes approximately two years to have priority legislation enacted, which is a joke. Perhaps the witnesses would elaborate on the size of the bundles of loans, the mechanics behind a speedier process and the proposed timeframe in that regard. I agree that a speedier process is possible. My second question relates to bidding against the vulture funds. I think that would be hugely welcomed. If the witnesses know of anything we can practically do in that regard, I think everybody would be happy to do it.