Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Commissioner's comments. The language that she used was about unburdening banks with non-performing loans so they can lend into the real economy. These loans are individuals, people and families. I happened to meet one of these families on my way in here about 20 minutes ago. They are a real family who have lost their home as they face into Christmas and they are part of the real economy.

The Commissioner said we need to learn from the past. What lessons have been learned? Does she believe that when a bank enters into a contract with an individual to provide lending but the individual falls on hard times, whether that is due to a pandemic or a recession, the bank has a responsibility that goes beyond, to use her language, "unburdening" that loan so it can lend to others who will continue to increase its profits and has a moral and financial obligation to the family to work through the loan?

The Commission seems to be trying to make it easier for banks to sell loans to vulture funds. I ask the Commissioner to talk about the framework that would allow for the establishment of asset managed companies. It has been suggested that this would only apply to business loans. Does the Commissioner see this also applying to family homes? I mean where one could have a National Asset Management Agency-type entity that would take the loans off the balance sheets of the banks, and, therefore, doing as she has suggested, but not the likes of Cerberus, which is a complete and utter vulture that treated its customers with disdain. It is not just about being able to talk to somebody; it is how people are treated. The problem is that vulture funds, by their definition, do not have a long-term interest in the Irish economy. One cannot take a 30-year product or a 25-year mortgage and feel that it is secure in the hands of a vulture fund. I worry about the direction we are going in. If I were part of a young couple starting off and taking out a mortgage, I would worry about where the mortgage would end up if hard times occurred. Indeed, it does not have to be a case of non-performing loans because we have seen in the past that banks sold performing loans to vulture funds. Yes, these are regulated now but vulture funds, like any bank, can increase their variable interest rates to whatever level they want. The reason mainstream banks do not do that is because of competition. Vulture funds do not provide as much freedom or flexibility to manoeuvre.