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

It quoted Bank of Ireland at 29% for performing mortgages. Ireland has the fourth highest rate in the eurozone. Sweden has the lowest rate at 4%. In aggregate terms, Ireland was about 38%. Non-bank lenders, such as retail credit firms, are not bound by these risk-weighted asset capital requirements. Are they a major threat to mainstream lenders such as Bank of Ireland? Finance Ireland has now entered the market with residential mortgages. It is not bound by those risk-weighted asset capital requirements. To what extent is that a determinant of mortgage pricing? We had Mario Draghi before the committee some months ago and he described the Irish market as a quasi-monopoly. The Department of Finance, however, still seems to be attributing much of the reason for high Irish rates to the capital requirements.