Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I thank the witnesses for being here. I appreciate their time very much. I will have to be indulged and allowed to be given the opportunity to ask the same question of these witnesses that I did of the previous witnesses. What does the deputy governor think of the policy of our main pillar banks at a time when they are refusing to support young, hard-working couples who want to start out on life and borrow money? I will expand what I said previously. What about respectable, hard-working people in small business who want to borrow money? We are at a time where there is unprecedented billions on deposit in our pillar banks. We are living through a time when they are driving me mad by putting up their signs that state “We're backing brave”. We know they should have signs up that read: “Do not come in here looking for a loan because we will not give it to you regardless of who you are, what you are, what age you are or what your earning capacity is”; “How hard you are working means nothing because we are going to do nothing for you”; “We will take money from you. We will charge you every type of fee in the world but the one thing we will not do is back you”; “We will not back business” ; “We will not back young people starting out or young couples wanting to build a home”; “We will not back you”. Those are the signs they should be told to put up. That is the advertising they should be doing because that is the truth.

I would like to know whether the deputy governor, the other witnesses and the Central Bank in general will do anything to try to ask these people to do what banks are supposed to do, which is give out money at a rate. We know the rates are extraordinarily high, but at the same time, people want to get going on the property ladder and I appreciate that fully. I am involved in property since I was 19 years of age. I believe that in life there is a certain period when a person is starting where they need to get their act together, they need to get going and they need opportunities. Sometimes, they have to rent for a while and that is fine. However, I do not want to see people who do not want to rent doing so for any day longer than they have to. I want to see them get going on their own feet, get their own two legs under them and start the onerous responsibility of paying a mortgage. However, they are not being given that opportunity. Is there something we can do about that? That is my main question. I am sorry for repeating myself but these people will only be hearing me asking this for the first time. I am interested to know. I want my time to be used by them to say what they can do.

Will they please get “We're backing brave” signs taken down and burned outside the banks so that the banks will act honestly and say they are not backing brave? At every platform I can get, I will repeat "AIB is not backing brave". It is doing no such thing. It did in the past but not in recent years. Those signs are misleading, untrue, deceitful and wronging people.