Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 22 February 2018

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised)

9:30 am

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Chairman asked me if I can intervene in the timing of any loan book sale. The Single Supervisory Mechanism, which is completely independent of me, has issued a direction that the bank is following. I do not have the power available to me to intervene in the compliance with that regulation or its timing. We are talking about a bank that has non-performing loans. Going back to a comment I made earlier, I am very conscious of the worry that is encompassed in that figure of non-performing loans. However, we need a stable, secure and successful Permanent TSB in Ireland. On the one hand, we have a direction that has been issued from an independent central bank that is regulating this bank and whose regulation the bank is required to meet. There is a level of bad loans that is five times the eurozone average, despite the progress the bank has made. I am trying to ensure that we have the right legal framework in place to make sure this issue is resolved in the fairest way possible.

The Chairman asked if I would consider re-scoping and redesigning the work Abhaile is doing. That body flows from the Department of Justice and Equality. The caution I would have in making any change to its work is that I would need to ensure that it did not cut across or cause difficulty for the work of the Insolvency Service of Ireland, ISI.

On the mortgage-to-rent scheme, for this year alone I have made an additional €5 million available through the Estimates process, bringing it up to €22 million. To date, 308 families or citizens have stayed in their homes due to that scheme and a further 619 applications are currently being progressed. I keep it under review with the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to see if any changes are needed to make the scheme even more successful. The last review of the scheme took place in February 2017, which was not too long ago.

The Chairman asked about the credit union movement. It is open to any organisation to decide if it wants to acquire any of these loans, if it feels doing so would benefit its balance sheet and fit in with its business model. I know the credit union movement has other things that it is looking to do, and to which it believes it can add value, with the savings of its members.

Of all of the banks with which I have engaged - those in which the taxpayer has a stake and those that are a key part of our banking sector - I and my Department have always communicated to them that they need to work through all arrears and debt difficulties with the citizens who have loans, and that they should make use of all of the options that are available.

We have always given that message.

On the funds which are operating in the State and which have acquired loans in the past, the Deputy and other members of the committee have asked me whether I have met or engaged with them. The potential accusation has been that I have engaged with them directly. I have not met them. I have engaged with the banks which are registered here. However, as part of the work I will do which I said I wanted to do in the passage of the Finance Bill, I will look at the regulations in place with a fresh eye.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.