Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last week I raised the issue of Irish Nationwide mortgage holders. In approximately two weeks the special liquidator will sell 13,000 mortgages for Irish families to the highest bidder at a discount. That discount could go to the families but instead it will go to foreign hedge funds. Several foreign funds are interested in buying the mortgages and have come to Ireland with the sole objective of squeezing as much money as possible out of these families. I have been told that the funds are looking for discounts of up to 30% on the performing loans and far more on the non-performing loans, and we know that some loans have already been sold at a 70% discount.

Last week I asked the Taoiseach to step in but he refused to do so. I asked him to allow the families to bid for their own mortgages, but he also refused that. He cited a report written by PricewaterhouseCoopers and given to the special liquidator, KPMG. He indicated that based on this report, the families would not be allowed to bid for their mortgages. I submitted a parliamentary question to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, asking for him to publish the report. I got a reply at 7 p.m. last evening and he has refused to publish the report. The reply states:

The sale of the residential mortgage portfolio has been developed following professional advice. Neither I nor my officials had any role in the development of the sales process. The special liquidator will not be publishing the independent advice received as it is commercially sensitive information.

This is an outrageous position for the Government and the Minister, Deputy Noonan, to take. This is worse than secret government, as it is outsourced secret government. I do not recall anybody electing PricewaterhouseCoopers or KPMG to make these kinds of decision on behalf of Irish families.

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