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

I thank Mr. Masding and his colleagues for appearing before us. It should be said publicly that Start Mortgages was invited to attend but declined the invitation. LoanStar has refused a number of times to appear before the committee. Contrary to the suggestion that some of the concerns held by people whose loans are being sold are unfounded, the fact that we cannot get engagement from those buying the loans will raise their concerns even further. It is legitimate for us as a committee to seek to engage with those who are buying the loans and ask them questions about long-term restructurings, what they do after purchasing these mortgages, the nature of the arrangements they enter into and so on. We cannot get any of that information. That is not a matter for Permanent TSB, but it needs to be said publicly. It is deeply regrettable and disappointing that we cannot get that level of engagement. If they have nothing to hide, they have nothing to fear from attending and taking questions about how they will handle loans that are intrinsic to people's day-to-day lives.

When will this transaction be executed? The bank signed contracts on the last day of July and wrote to customers on 2 August telling them that the transfer date would not be in less than two months. The two months have now expired. When will the transaction go through?