Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the delegation.

I was quite shocked by Senator Aideen Hayden’s point that the bank was taking 50% of those in arrears to court. From my experience of working with Mr. David Hall, director of the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation, and a large number of people in arrears in Galway, I note that the bank is extremely slow in awarding restructuring. It is so slow that people actually go into arrears, even though they have given plenty of notice of problems. Customers are further disadvantaged by Ulster Bank in having its telephone operations based in Scotland. Does the delegation agree with this? A customer in difficulty tries to make a deal for a restructuring with the arrears support unit in the bank. However, because the restructuring is not agreed to quickly enough, the customer falls into arrears and is then hassled by another wing of the bank’s operation for a payment he or she cannot afford - never the two wings shall meet. The stress this heaps on people is unbelievable. Just in the past week I have had cases of Ulster Bank customers in mortgage difficulty getting four text messages and telephone calls every day. Is this acceptable? Does the bank believe it has a duty to have better internal communications to better assist those genuinely engaging and seeking restructuring?