Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I have previously raised sub-prime lending with the Minister for Finance and the Committee on Finance and the Public Service. I find it paradoxical that the Financial Regulator takes, no doubt correctly, a reasonably tough attitude to building societies, which are the people's banks, particularly for those with whom ordinary banks will not deal. He is even stalling on facilitating very well endowed credit unions to offer more home products. However, at the same time people go from door to door through housing estates, particularly local authority housing estates — not to mention afternoon television — offering sub-prime mortgages.

The subtext in sub-prime mortgages is that they can solve one's financial problems by consolidating one's loans, meaning one could be better off. The hidden part is that there are arrangement fees, and I would like to hear the Minister's views in that regard. Some are as high as 1% of the price of the property, meaning that one could pay €4,000 in arrangement or start-up fees on a €400,000 property. With certain products, if one fails to meet the loan conditions, the provision for penalties is extortionate.

Many people who are less well informed financially lack access to the normal banking system and cannot go to a credit union. They are being pressurised by sub-prime lenders who will make a fortune from them. We spoke earlier of mortgage interest rates crossing the 5% threshold some time next month. Is the Minister concerned that sub-prime lenders may be preying on the vulnerable? People must take responsibility for their financial decisions, but the sub-prime lending market is very much unregulated compared with building societies, ordinary banks and credit unions.

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