Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As stated on previous occasions, the Minister is treating the banks with kid gloves. He should light a fire under them, as well as the Central Bank. He is in his third year in office and I am sure he finds it unacceptable that 118,000 mortgages remain in arrears and that 77% of them have not been restructured. These are the figures of failure. When he entered office, the Minister was lighting fires or at least he was talking tough with the banks. When the ECB dropped its interest rate, he stated the banks should pass on the reduction to their customers. Would he be willing to reiterate these comments, given that the ECB has reduced its interest rate to an all-time low?

Tracker mortgages constitute a major issue for a number of the banks. Are there proposals on the table or is the Department developing any proposal to ease the burden within financial institutions in respect of these mortgages in order that the costs relating to them will not have to be shouldered by those with variable rate mortgages?

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