Mr. Padraic Kissane:

It cannot. Those books and businesses are sold on the basis of a set of terms and conditions. If new legislation were applied retrospectively, it would be challenged forever. I do not see how it could happen.

There are a couple of points I want to make. We talk about the Irish entities and the pillar banks, but people forget that KBC was bailed out by the Belgian Government and Ulster Bank was bailed out by the British Government. We talk about the pillar banks in Ireland, but the other banks are pillars as well. They were just bailed out by other states and have now decided to pull out. I wrote this down as the Deputy was speaking. When an entity like a vulture fund becomes involved in an area such as homeownership or home mortgages, there is an inherent responsibility that must be carried with that. It is different from what happens with a commercial unit or a rental property.

Homeownership and borrowing for homeownership carry an added level of responsibility for whomever owns the property. Perhaps we should be challenging these entities to look at themselves and ask how they can expect a family to pay at 7.5% or whatever the rate may be. It is fine if inflation continues to come down and interest rates drop. Too often, however, the rates do not fall as quickly as they went up.