John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will take up the point raised by Senator Conway-Walsh raised. The Central Bank, in producing its report, did 1,400 hours of desktop review, 500 surveys and 75 interviews. Ten years have elapsed since the bailout and the committee is discussing this report. Is it not absolutely horrific that the banks are behaving in almost the same way they behaved leading up to the bust? They are displaying the same arrogance, using the same methods of operation and there has been no change to their structures.

In terms of customer focus, the banks have numerous glossy advertisements that use catchphrases such as "the bank of you" and that sort of nonsense. The first figure used in connection with the tracker mortgage issue was in the region of 8,700. That figure has since increased to 38,400. The people who are still experiencing difficulties in finding a resolution to the tracker issue with their banks, even though the number of cases has narrowed, will tell us they still encounter the aggression, bad manners, poor management and a determination to protect the bank at all costs, even if the sum involved is small money. That is the experience ten years since the bust and it is what we have experienced through the tracker review and scandal.

The report is timely and tells us in reasonable language what many of us know. However, if one were to describe the position in layman's language, one would say the banks are still getting away with it and still treating customers badly. Is it not amazing that banks need to be reminded that the people with whom they are doing business are their customers? Is it not incredible that the Central Bank must introduce certain protocols, sanctions and so on to make them view people as customers? Consumers will be utterly shocked to learn that this report is now being presented and further work must be done on sanctions.

I will reflect on a few more issues. The culture in the vulture funds and banking sector in Ireland is truly terrible. As I repeatedly say, their behaviour should not be tolerated in any civilised society.

The tracker mortgage issue is the big example of banks ripping off their customers and then telling them, more or less, to get lost because they will not deal with them.

We also have the proof presented in respect of the EBS agents who followed the advice given by the Central Bank. They did what was required of them in terms of looking after their customers and so on. I have seen emails in which these agents were told by EBS to do whatever it took to sell X number of products each week. All of that still exists. The EBS agents have not been dealt with. Tracker mortgage holders are still fighting their cases. While €580 million has been paid out, a significant number of them are in the appeals system or have gone to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman. These people are still waiting for their cases to be dealt with.

The witnesses said that some of the recommendations the Central Bank will make have already been made in the report compiled by the Law Reform Commission. I do not see much change in the banks. I see some determination on the part of the Central Bank to deal with the issue. However, I would love the Central Bank to suggest to the Government that it introduce legislation setting a standard that the banks would find it extraordinarily difficult to meet and that the Central Bank would penalise them and make them individually responsible should they fail to meet that standard. The Central Bank is doing that to some extent but it should be far more forceful with the banks because they do not give a damn. They do not care, are open for business and do what they want. Matters are not being resolved.

The global restructuring group, GRG, is another scandal that has yet to be dealt with. Deputy Pearse Doherty raised a significant question which I will ask in a different way. If there is a disagreement between the banks and the Central Bank on, for example, a case such as margin issues, which relates to PTSB, and a settlement is reached in one case, will that outcome be applied to similar accounts? I believe that is the question Deputy Doherty asked. How will the Central Bank establish that? What degree of accuracy will there be in the context of the approach taken by the Central Bank?