John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am interested in the bank depot idea. I presume Mr. Kissane took it from the political depot operated by the Government and where nothing gets done.

The three presentations were excellent and focused on the points we wanted addressed. While we might not agree on some of the points raised on either side of the discussion, there is a consensus about needing change and for something to be done.

To those watching proceedings, it should be explained that the vulture funds have been invited to the committee a number of times – they have had to be reminded of those invitations – but they refuse to attend. There is an argument about whether vulture funds were needed in the beginning – I disagree with Mr. Burgess's position – but even if they were needed, there were no rules for them initially when they arrived. It was an open country where they picked on the bones of everything. Much of what happened might have been avoided if there had been rules for what should happen. Our country was completely vulnerable. People in business and domestically were also vulnerable.

We are looking back on Covid, but we should also take a deep look at everything that happened in this context. One of the witnesses mentioned learning something from it. We need to look back on it.

The banking investigation was a whitewash, in my opinion. It did not go half far enough in getting at the truth and presenting real findings or a learning experience setting out what did or did not go wrong.

We will again ask representatives of the vulture funds to attend and we are in the process of doing that. The Minister for Finance should take note that that is what we are doing and that we are having serious difficulty in doing it. I have just been reminded we have invited representatives of several funds to attend a meeting on 22 March. I publicly appeal to those funds to allow their representatives to come before the committee and give their side of the story, that is, to explain themselves and explain how best we can engage with the funds to get information for customers who have come to us or to the IMHO. It is not right, in a small market of 5 million or 6 million people, that a set of financial entities would not engage in a public forum. That beggars belief, and I am disappointed with successive Ministers for Finance for not having set down those rules. I would hold the Central Bank to account as well, given it just wants to turn a blind eye and let things go on. Quite frankly, that too has to change.

Turning to our guests' contributions, Mr. Kissane mentioned these funds and the background to NPLs and so on. He raised a question as to where the firms are sourcing their money and asked whether the funds are open to the same market fluctuations as regular mortgage providers such as Finance Ireland. Was that just a comment or does he feel we are not doing enough as a country to attract cheaper funds of an ethical kind?