Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 4 April 2017

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

Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland

10:00 am

Photo of Peter BurkePeter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Governor and his staff for attending the committee today. On the tracker mortgage issue, the Governor has been very clear that lenders have failed their customers. That is a very serious environment for the Central Bank to be operating in and it should take it at the most serious level.

On that, we said earlier that the reasons banks treated customers in this way are unknown. We still do not know whether it was for economic advantage or collusion. Padraic Kissane, one of the witnesses who came before this committee, was clear on the harrowing stories families are still living through as a result of this issue yet the consumer has no information on that and no voice in that regard. That is a huge concern because justice delayed is justice denied and many of these families are still living in an environment where they are not aware what is happening and feel powerless.

We have a number of public interest directors in our banking system who one would imagine would be the voice of the consumer on these issues. However, they have been silent regarding these cases, which is very worrying. I have some questions for the Governor. I refer to the correspondence I get as a TD.

If people tell me they are engaging with the financial institutions but are not getting any information and are being ignored, is there anything - having regard to his earlier comments about how the banking system has failed its customers on this issue - the Governor's office can do to compel the banks to give their customers information on their files with respect to where their cases are at?