Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)

Like St. Paul going to Damascus, it is interesting to see Fianna Fáil going down the road of being in favour of regulation of banks, given that it landed the country and its mortgage holders where they are, with distressed mortgages, unemployed or on an emigration ship. I welcome the opportunity to speak on Private Members' business. The three most important things the Government must focus on are jobs, mortgages and the banks. One year in office, many positive things have been done but the thanks the Irish public is getting for keeping the doors of the banks open leaves a lot to be desired. Our banks are still acting within a bubble and I am glad the Cabinet has set up a sub-committee to deal specifically with this. There is a temptation for some banks to forget that, were it not for taxpayers, they would be closed.

I can cite three examples, the first of which is a businessman in south Limerick waiting for the sheriff to arrive in respect of an order of repossession on behalf of a bank based in Limerick city. The second concerns a young civil servant working for the Revenue Commissioners, with a gross income of €38,000, whose wife is a teacher earning €43,000. Both are permanent employees yet, until recently, they could not get a mortgage. The final example is in east Limerick and relates to the rates being charged, which vary between 5.19% at Permanent TSB and 3% at AIB. Both banks are being kept open courtesy of the taxpayer. We cannot interfere with the day-to-day operation of the banks because there must be a free market but the penny must drop in this country that, were it not for the damage foisted on people by the previous Government, we would not have this problem. Now that we are trying to fix it, the banks must take responsibility and engage with people. I welcome some of the initiatives of the Minister, including the backstop through local authorities to prevent repossessions. We do not want to see families on the side of the road. While progress has been made on the recommendations of the Keane report, much more must be done. Ministers acknowledge there is no quick fix solution to this problem. As an Administration, we have inherited the worst basketcase economy in western Europe. Rather than taking cheap shots at the Government, there is an opportunity to acknowledge that, were it not for ludicrous previous policies, we would not be in this situation. The Opposition should come in with constructive approaches on how the Government can get out of this on behalf of the people who elect us.

No one takes solace from the fact that we have in excess of 400,000 people unemployed and our banking sector is not lending to the extent it should be. Anecdotally, we hear in our constituency offices that small businesses think more must be done. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the Taoiseach were in Limerick last week and both listened attentively to the concerns raised by business people. Progress is being made but it is slow. The banks in this country are being kept open courtesy of the taxpayers and they should remember that.

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