Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill, even though my party's position on it is quite clear. We will be opposing the Bill because it is fundamentally flawed, as has been elaborated on by my colleagues. The name of the Bill would suggest it is very benign legislation. The Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill sounds harmless enough, but at the very heart of this is the closing of a loophole in the original 2009 Act and addressing the Dunne judgment. Clearly, at the heart of this legislation are provisions to allow banks to repossess property. While we all know that repossessions must occur from time to time, the desperate position of the banks at the moment leads to the concern that, with no independent oversight, they will use their whip hand excessively and force many from their homes.

We must look at the history of how we got to the position we are in now. The Minister is partisan and I am a partisan Opposition spokesperson, so we will have to agree to differ on that and try to stick to the facts. One of the biggest difficulties in the context of where we are currently has been the bank guarantee of 2008. There are various reasons for that decision, but it was based on the problems that arose. Those problems arose because of banks becoming sales representatives. They were no longer functioning as banks but were hawking mortgages, credit cards-----

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