Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Okay. I am a little bit concerned to be honest because, as Mr. Cross said, this is fundamentally speculative. This is not necessarily real economy work. I am extremely concerned that some such businesses, services and financial services may be considering relocating in Ireland. I do not want us to become a poor regulator and a poor actor in this area. Ireland has a disproportionate number of data processing centres compared to other European countries. It would be a worry if we are also seen in any way as being a place where we end up championing or allowing what is fundamentally an unsustainable activity. Apart from any cost benefit, I have not heard a robust or serious risk analysis.

On the emissions piece, we talked about net zero and the obligation to ensure that we have accuracy around what products or services are labelled as green. With the European taxonomy, for example, the witnesses will be aware that there is a lot of concern and debate at the moment about the attempt to include gas in the taxonomy, and that there is a danger that many international investors will not engage when things are not green. Would Mr. Cross not agree that currently cryptocurrencies and crypto assets cannot be labelled as sustainable or green? We are talking about a new area of financial service expansion that is fundamentally unsustainable and not in line with this taxonomy or with prioritising green investment. I am concerned about that. When Mr. Cross answers that, I will ask my two final questions. They are on unrelated issues but are important.

With regard to distressed debt and so on, there is an issue that has been touched on but I would like to touch on it further, which is the concern where the banks are exiting the Irish market to such a degree and people's mortgages and other loans are sold on. This is a concern especially around distressed assets being sold on. We know that mortgage holders often seek an opportunity to settle their existing debt with a financial institution rather than having that debt passed on. There are those who are solvent and want to sort the debt with the financial institution before it is sold on to another actor, and there are those who wish to settle their debt with an institution that has purchased a mortgage book.

In that regard, what work is happening at a time when a lot of debt is, effectively, changing hands, be that distressed debt or non-distressed debt, to ensure that ultimately the mortgage holders have that opportunity for negotiating around their own exit so they do not see their mortgage being sold for less than they would be willing to pay themselves?

On credit unions, there is a programme for Government commitment on community banking. With absolute respect, the 2018 and 2019 reviews predate the programme for Government, and the commitment to community banking in that, and they also predate the exit of many of the commercial and retail banks that we have seen over the past year and a half. It is certainly time for a review. The opening statement referred to the credit unions being able to compete with others, but the fact is that the credit unions are not being allowed to compete in these areas because they are being constrained in accessing the market and fulfilling that public banking role. Perhaps Mr. Cross will comment on those three issues.