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

I accept that but I ask Mr. Tobin to accept that what he is telling us, and the statistics he has given, are not the full story. There is another side to this, which other members of the committee and I have described during this meeting and others. We are simply asking that what we say be recognised.

Deputy Burton made a point about the Constitution and the citizens of the State. By ignoring the plight of those people who are so marginalised by this State, it undermines the State and its institutions. Someone has to reach out to ensure that this body of people are assisted, by legislation or regulation, to have a life in spite of their bad mortgage. They went into a bank for a loan of €100,000 and came out with one for €200,000 and one or two cars. One cannot say it was the people who were at fault because they were all at fault, including the Central Bank, the Department of Finance and us as politicians. We are making an effort to ensure this is reasoned out and that those who want to pay, rather than those who do not, get a fair deal from their bank.

As a shortcut, however, the bank, with the sanction of this House, is able to dispose of loans overnight. In the context of Deputy Doherty's Bill, I am simply asking that the Department of Finance look at the social consequences of this, and not just concentrate on the financial institutions within a silo. There are social consequences to homelessness, kids on the street, families in hotels, 140,000 on our housing lists, and buy-to-lets being sold with people being asked to leave by the banks.