Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

Lo and behold what happened last weekend? The Keane report was published. I contacted all the constituents who had been in touch with me. I have a large file on the matter which is growing every week, the Government will be pleased to hear. I informed them about what was in the Keane report. Their reactions ranged from shock, dismay, disbelief and despair that eight months down the road we have a report that gives the banks an À la carte set of options. In other words, it suggests to the banks that since they are dealing with this problem all the time, it offers some other options if the banks are so minded to use them but, if they do not wish to use them, that is too bad. This is what the Keane report amounts to in essence. It took two months and 22 people to do something which a one-man committee could have done in two hours. There is not one suggestion in the Keane report that I have not read in the various commentaries on mortgage arrears written by academics journalists and so on. Some of the solutions were suggested to me in pubs in Limerick.

See this speech in context