Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 1 February 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

European Union Matters: Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis

9:00 am

Photo of Paddy BurkePaddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We see that Brussels is probably the second largest lobbying city in the world. Mr. Dombrovskis is saying pressure is being put on banks to sell off non-performing loans. When pressure is put on the banks to sell off those loans, he will note most groups that buy them are vulture funds. This committee has tried to get vulture funds to come here to talk to us but they will not do so. Has Mr. Dombrovskis been lobbied on the question of why the non-performing loans should be sold off? Has he any mechanism for governments to buy the non-performing loans? Governments can borrow money at 0%, 1% or other very low interest rates. There is no reason governments could not buy non-performing loans. Why is Mr. Dombrovskis not saying the governments should buy them? Why is it that the vulture funds buy the non-performing loans in most cases? We can see at first hand what vulture funds are doing with the non-performing loans and to the borrowers. Has the Commission come up with any proposals on how governments could buy these loans? If so, we have not heard them.

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