Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I would like to see this actuarial assessment because I believe the banks are hoodwinking the consumer director. Numerous people attending my clinics say they received one charge of a breakage fee of, for example, €25,000, but when they went back to confirm it the next day, it had gone up to €40,000. That does not suggest there are consistent formulae that are actuarially sound. I would like to see the evidence. Will the Minister get the consumer director to lay that evidence before the House so we can have it independently assessed?

Has the Minister got evidence, either from the consumer director or the financial institutions, that they have genuinely entered into long-term commitments matching those fixed rate mortgages? My impression is that it has been very hard for banks to enter into any long-term commitments for money. If they are not incurring that cost, they should not be charging the breakage fee.

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