Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I think Professor Lane is completely wrong. The reality is that if my loan is sold to a fund, it will make all of the key decisions surrounding it. Such a fund would be beyond the reach of the Central Bank. We heard a while ago about ongoing inspections with the credit servicing firms. The credit servicing firms are the conduits and channels of communication between the borrowers and the lenders. They do not make decisions. When we contact them in our capacity as public representatives, they say they will pass on what we have to say to the fund that owns the loan in question and we are eventually informed of the decision made. There are no inspections and no powers of investigation or enforcement. The people who control loans, businesses and homes are accountable to nobody. That is the current position. The Central Bank can hold the credit servicing firm to account, but it cannot hold the people who are making the actual decisions to account. I cannot understand the Central Bank's reluctance to embrace its powers and deal with these matters.