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

I do not want to dismiss what Mr. Carville is saying, but the Cathaoirleach and Deputy Doherty, who have raised these questions in this forum many times will tell him the position.

There were countless cases in which people were not given a fair chance to recover or trade their way out of the situations they were in. Conditions were foisted upon people that they could meet. Arrangements and agreements were made with people that were never carried through and because loans were sold on to others, the buyers said they would enforce new rules. We have all raised these issues in the House and here.

We are watching this carefully. It is not acceptable for such behaviour to continue. All members of the public, including owners of small or medium properties or dwelling houses, are entitled to fair play and fair treatment and not to be kicked around by any institutions, which played fast and loose with the system when it suited them.

One of the real problems with the collapse occurred when lending institutions that were not owed any instalments or arrears by many people closed down and would not finance anymore. They brought the whole thing to a halt. Some of us have followed these issues week by week and will continue to do so. The Government and Central Bank have been helpful but there are so many cases up in the air all the time that it is difficult to be up to speed with them all. We try.