Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that. Finally, I wish to ask about a case with which Mr. Sibley may be familiar. A letter related to it was shared on social media platforms. It involves a loan that was sold by Ulster Bank to the vulture fund, Promontoria Scariff.

It was a loan about which there was engagement with Ulster Bank until June last year. There was an expectation of an arrangement being entered into and documentation to verify that. The loan was sold unilaterally to this vulture fund, Promontoria. The individual continued to make partial payments as they had been, expecting Ulster Bank's arrangement, although it was not signed off on, would be adhered to by Promontoria. Promontoria then said that it does not do that type of arrangement and would not do anything that Ulster Bank was offering. It called in the full loan on 23 October 2020, and has since issued a repossession order, asking the family of two adults and three teenagers to vacate their family home in the mouth of Christmas, before 21 December.

We hear from the Central Bank all the time that the same regulations and oversight apply to vulture funds as to main street banks. This is what vulture funds do because they have no interest in the long term. What do the witnesses say to a case like that and to people who may be concerned about Ulster Bank selling its loans to a vulture fund, Cerberus, which is one of the worst in the market? The word that comes from the Central Bank is that the protections follow but the reality is that the bank can call in the loan if one falls into any difficulty and increase the variable interest rate at any time.