Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail)
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I thank Mr. Stanley for his opening statement. This is a bit of a sorry tale. It starts with an adjusted operating profit, which is actually an operating loss of €151 million, followed, in turn, by a non-performing loan strategy, the disposal of a load of loans, the tracker mortgage debacle, the establishment of the global restructuring group, GRG, and further customer transaction failures. I am not saying that I feel sorry for Mr. Stanley, but what he has been describing to us is a fairly sorry tale. The Chair pointed out what would otherwise have been my first point. I have more than ten different items of correspondence that were sent to all members via the generic email address for the Joint Committee for Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. Those who wrote the correspondence say they have received 60-day holding letters, that their experience has been very frustrating and they want to know the bank's stance on former First Active customers. They also provide updates on their own situations, saying that they have been given certain amounts of compensation but are very unsatisfied with the response. They refer to loopholes affecting people who have gone to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, FSPO, and come back to Ulster Bank. Can I get a commitment from the witnesses that each of these items of correspondence will be examined and responded to directly by someone on their team, with feedback forwarded to the committee? It is not good enough for the witnesses to keep coming before us with a particular story while we keep getting correspondence from people who are clearly very unsatisfied with what is going on.