Mr. Brendan Burgess:

In respect of vulture funds, there are a total of 95,000 mortgage holders. Mortgage holders often have a second account, so there are 113,000 or 114,000 accounts but 95,000 families have got mortgages. Approximately 31,000 of them are on trackers, so I am not concerned about them because, typically, the margin is 1%, so today they are paying 3% plus 1%, that is, 4%. When they drew down that mortgage 15 years ago, they were paying anything from 3% to 5%, so in some cases they are still paying less now. Moreover, of course, they have been paying very little interest for the past 15 years. I am less concerned about them.

There are 38,000 people on variable rates. As Mr. Kissane said, if the vulture fund decides to raise the rate to 10%, according to the current belief in the system, nobody can do anything about that and it cannot be challenged. The third category comprises about 25,000 people on fixed rates. They were on fixed rates before the mortgages were sold and those fixed rates have not yet finished, but when they expire, the mortgage holders will go onto variable rates. In total, therefore, 63,000 people will be subject to whatever the vulture funds want to charge them. Of those 63,000, I am guessing 10,000 could switch to another lender, but it is difficult to get that information.

It might be worth sending a questionnaire to the vulture funds and asking them these questions. I think the committee has asked them to come in a few times over recent years, but they have not come in. They had less to hide back then. I would love it if they came in to be asked questions. However, if the committee were to ask them a few questions I could talk to the clerk about what questions might be appropriate.