Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be able to speak on this Bill but I am ashamed and saddened to think that with a Labour Party Minister of State in the House, in the year of the 100th anniversary of 1913 and big Jim Larkin, that we are bringing in this Bill to deal with the Gunn judgment as if that judgment was wrong.

I cannot understand what this Government has against ordinary people. I cannot understand why it will not accept the judgment of any court. I will speak again about the Supreme Court judgment on the children's referendum, where five judges of the court found the Government had acted wrongly and had misappropriated money. In actual fact, in a court case today a senior official admitted the Government paid too much for advertising. Easy for it when it did not have to raise the money, but we are where we are.

This Bill is an effort to continue the mockery and charade that protects the so-called rich, the blackguards, the so-called developers, bankers, former politicians and regulators, and the guy who was sent off to Brussels at all costs, even though he failed the interview. He had to be sent anyway because he knew too much. It is disgusting to think that the Government is here with its bully-boy majority, but when a colleague in the Technical Group had a wonderful motion on Private Members' business last night, about organ donation, the Government paid lip service to it. There was not a single Labour Party Member in the House. The Minister of State spoke for seven minutes out of 15, and the debate had to be suspended when she stopped. She did not have it in her brain to keep going for 15 minutes. That shows the interest the Labour Party has in the people. Labour Party Members went up to Meath East to canvass in the by-election and were rejected for their liberal policies. They did not want to know about bread and butter issues. They wanted to talk about gay marriage and whatever you are having yourself. They got their answer. I do not know where they will hide but they cannot hide anywhere. I do not know what vendetta they have against the people.

I heard the Labour Party when it was in opposition. I was over there for some time myself. I fell out with my party because of its policies. I voted for the bank guarantee and it was the biggest mistake of my life. I have regretted it ever since. The Tánaiste used an awful word against the former Taoiseach, although it might have had some merit. What happened when he entered office? He put on the same clothes and continued to support the people he had previously denigrated, perpetrating the biggest cover-up that ever existed in this State. There was a cover-up of the shenanigans and blackguarding that went on with politicians, regulators, bankers, chancers, speculators, the Europeans and the senior bondholders the Tánaiste was going to burn hotter than the fires of hell. Now he has allowed them off scot free in spite of the fact that they had their shady investments insured and they got their money anyway. The Tánaiste wants to penalise the ordinary people of the country. It is shenanigans. It did not happen in Cromwell's time. The Government is just as bad as him.

This is the second Government that is going to do this. I do not know what it is afraid of. I have asked again and again who the Government is protecting. I am talking about this Government, the pervious Government and the permanent government, the lads in the State cars and offices with the Ministers, and the lads who escaped the pension levy. No one else escaped it except a cohort of senior civil servants because they twisted the arm of the late Minister for Finance. It is disgusting. Ordinary people had to pay it while they got off with it.

This is a Bill that will persecute people before there is any banking inquiry to examine what the banks got up to. Four years later, there is still no banking inquiry.

This Bill does not protect the family home, which is sacrosanct. The bank can refuse a resolution under a mortgage arrears resolution process. Banks are calling the shots. They wrote the Bill. We see how they move around. I will not mention any names but there was one in the Central Bank who is going back to Lloyds TSB. It is a merry-go-round. Lloyds TSB is the company that allowed Bank of Scotland (Ireland) to rob the country and now it is robbing the British taxpayer. I am going to raise this at the meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and I hope to get some support there.

Complaints to the Financial Services Ombudsman of Ireland could take nine to 12 months. People do not have the time. They cannot put food on the table.

This Bill will involve the courts in negotiations. Is that the function of judges? Judges are busy people. They have a job. The separation of Government and the Judiciary must be protected, and we saw the shenanigans lately with our wonderful Minister for Justice and Equality who wants to torment everyone.

Three hundred thousand people are in trouble at present and more will be in trouble before this Government is finished doling out this punishment. The people are being punished for the mistakes of the bankers. That is the order of the day. I am shocked because the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, has a small business background. He should know well what is going on. He does know but he failed to disclose.

The people have not received any help or bailouts from the State during these unprecedented times. The ordinary people got nothing. That is the preserve of a small few. The Dunne ruling to which I referred earlier that the Government proposes to overturn or ignore is not a legal loophole. It is the law enacted by previous Parliaments.

This Government has an obligation to protect the citizens of the State from eviction. If it fails, who will benefit? The banks will have to house the citizens of Ireland. The State will bear the cost while the banks ride roughshod over corporate governance and individuals' rights. It is unbelievable.

I am in negotiations currently with both the Revenue Commissioners and the sheriff in Limerick, and the blackguarding an ordinary family is getting in west Limerick is disgraceful. Machines can be seized. The sheriff can arrive today, make a deal with someone and come back three weeks later and tear it up, even though he signed his good name to it. In one case he seized the man's goods and chattels and, under Garda escort involving two or three patrol cars, gave them to an auction house in Dublin. That was done without any resistance. It was to show that very sick man that the State can do what it wishes. The blue lights were flashing, no one was resisting and the goods were brought to an auction house in Dublin. The goods were then advertised without VAT being charged. I was told today that under a 1972 Act, Revenue does not have to charge VAT. It is a matter for the auctioneer to charge VAT on his or her profit. The goods can then be sold for half the value. This man's goods were sold last Saturday, but because of the low deposit, they have to be sold again. Revenue does not care. It issues the warrant and the sheriff goes off, and he gets his fat charges. He gets all his money and therefore the misfortunate taxpayer gets nothing out of it. It is downright blackguarding. It did not go on in the days of the Penal Laws. It did not go on when we were trying to get rid of the British and Cromwell out of our country. What is going on here is disgusting.

Our banks do not have a code of practice. The Central Bank has a code of practice but it is useless. It is toothless because the banks are allowed do this. Many of these repossessions are taking place without a court order. They only have to wave a bit of paper because in many cases the members of the Garda Síochána do not understand what is going on and will not insist that the proper paperwork is shown. Bully-boy tactics are being used. I raised that here last week with the Ceann Comhairle. They are hit men. A third force - a militia - is going out, beating up people and leaving them nearly dead on the road. I have photographic evidence of it. The Minister can shake his head but it is happening. Thankfully, it is being investigated by An Garda Síochána. Many of these people are not even from our country. They are hired from other countries because the Irishman might be known. It is unbelievable.

The Government has protected bankers for long enough. It is time to protect the citizens of this country. When will we decide to protect the citizens?

This Government is allegedly in charge but it is responsible for the growing chaos in the country and it will be held accountable for its actions by the citizens of the nation, and by history. The sooner that happens, the better.

Article 41.1 of Bunreacht na hÉireann states: "The State recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights". What has happened to that? We all sign a pledge when we come into this House but where is that now? We are ignoring our Constitution that was fought so hard for and that has served us well for so long.

Article 40.5 states that the dwelling of every citizen is inviolable and shall not be forcibly entered save in accordance with law, yet men are arriving at houses with keys, breaking down the door and changing the locks. A month ago in this city an unmarried mother in this city went to the shop with her child to get a bottle of milk, and when she returned, she met these fellows who were sent out by an insolvent bank that had no licence to trade. When she rang her landlord and he rang the Garda, they fled, having changed the locks and locking her out on the street at 9 o'clock.

Article 40.1 states: "All citizens shall, as human persons, be held equal before the law." My goodness. Is the Government going to pass another law? Ye passed it at Cabinet last night to deny the unborn the right to live. Why would you not because you do not care for the people who are living, no more than the people who are unborn? You will burn in hell for it, that is all I will say - burn in hell for it, Minister. The Taoiseach, Deputy Kenny, wrote to people before the last election pledging-----

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