John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Has Ms Nolan a view on how, say, the likes of Ulster Bank sell on their loans? I will not give her a specific example but I am referring to, say, a transaction between Ulster Bank and Cerberus and the loans within that which are called in. This has a direct effect on the performance and ownership of some small and medium-sized enterprises; they are treated particularly harshly. In order words, a business may be attempting to keep up its payments, performing as it did when it was with the bank, but now that the loan has been sold on, the approach is much more aggressive. The complaint is that businesses are being threatened and, therefore, jobs are being threatened,, and there is very little flexibility. As we move along in this process, which is not finished yet by a long shot, we have that type of negative activity going on in the economy, driven by the off-loading of bank debt to such companies.