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

We should all relax on that matter. However, it has an appalling effect as we can see on individual borrowers all over the country. Should there be competition between the vulture funds, investment funds or whatever we want to call them and the pillar banks and the credit unions, we could have a big problem on our hands and it could escalate very quickly. The interest rate is on a much bigger asset. It could be interest on €1 million borrowed. That would be unusual but in certain parts of the country, it might happen. On €0.5 million it is not so unusual and certainly on €200,000 or €300,000 it is not unusual and it mounts up very fast for the borrower who may find it blowing up in their face with huge demands that increase monthly. It does not go away. It is one of the things that we need to watch and particularly with the current attitude among the vulture funds that seem to have adopted a new policy that we may need to revisit at another sitting of the committee. I certainly would like to see that.