Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That has not been the experience of people in public life. There is a feeling that people who raise issues are potential troublemakers and perhaps they have the wrong end of the stick, should take their case somewhere else or whatever the case may be. I will park that as I know the Chair also wishes to contribute.

I will move on to another matter. I am aware of moral hazard and the need for some protection. Otherwise people whose mortgages have been bought might not want to pay anything at all. However, the secrecy worries me. I, the Chair and all committee members have dealt with cases where unfortunate people, perhaps through wrong investment, a wrong turn or circumstances outside their control, found themselves in positions where the bank or lending institution came to foreclose their property.

Unfortunate people, who maybe through bad investments, wrong turns, or circumstances outside of their control, have found themselves in the position where the bank or lending institution came to foreclose on their property. The degree of sympathy coming from the institutions was not great. I know people will say they are businesses and that sympathy is not part of their make-up. However, we have all dealt with really appalling situations where vulnerable people were tossed about on the sea of financial turbulence, for the want of a better word, and lost out. I have dealt with these people as has everyone around this table. Members of the Houses will tell you about it. The problem was those vulnerable people who were really down and desperate would always ask about their loan that was sold to a financial investment company or whatever the case may be. They bought it for a certain amount. What percentage of the face value did they buy it for? Then it is sold on for a multiple of what they bought the property for. It is all very fine to say that is business. We are dealing with people's lives here and people's emotions. It is not something that is new to us or to the Central Bank either. It needs to be aware of it. I am a little worried that not enough concern is shown for people in that situation, and there are many of them. They will suffer long after the financial crash and eventually they will get nothing. They will find themselves thrown on the slag heap, as it were, and that nobody wants to listen to them.

I know the vulture funds are categorised as not being willing to talk. That is not true. Some of them are willing, but some of them are not. Some of them are willing to accommodate customers but some are definitely not and will shift the case around to suit themselves and they will ask those who attempt to achieve a solution to make a proposal which is inevitably rejected. They will then ask them to make another proposal. This is being used in many cases as a negotiating ploy where the original borrower gets to the stage where they throw up their hands and say that this cannot be solved. I am worried about disclosures in the future that may well unveil something that may be a shock for the country in general and certainly for public representatives.

I give credit to those who are willing to negotiate honourably and honestly. I am aware of the ones who do not and the various ploys that exist. When we call them to deal with the customer, we have to go back through the whole security process. The General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR, is the answer to everything. Everybody shelters behind GDPR now. The customer has no place to shelter and no place to go. I would be grateful if customers could be warned in a very effective way as to the blatant risks of getting involved in crypto currencies in stark red letters. Let them know about it. I refer to the so-called vulture funds' activities in other areas. Echoing what the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, say, if I was a vulture fund and I was going to buy property all over the country, I would buy the most valuable and lucrative assets. I would not buy swamp land or something like that. It could, however, reduce the ability of the productive sector to produce what it produces best which is food. I will have more to say some another time as will the Chair. However, we need to be mindful of what happens.

The existing banks have attempted to become invisible and to do what they want behind the scenes. That will not work. Customers throughout the country want to be able to talk to their financial adviser, as they see it. It was always that way and there are plenty of examples to show why that was useful. It is not being followed through now. There is a movement away from that and to become invisible to all intents and purposes but as I said, it will not work. However, we will have more to say about it another time.