Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 8 December 2016

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Central Bank of Ireland

9:30 am

Mr. Ed Sibley:

If the Bill was passed, it would need to be very clear that it applies to non-bank and bank scenarios. I would not use the precise term Deputy Doherty has used. However, we would absolutely discharge what is required under the Bill. The Bill refers to a quarterly assessment of the market to determine whether there has been market failure. We would undertake that assessment and make a determination based on that assessment. We have not done an assessment in the way the Bill articulates at this stage. As I noted earlier, there is no reference to credit risk in the Bill and that is an absolutely fundamental driver of pricing in Ireland.