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

There is a lot in the Minister's contribution on which we do not see eye to eye. The one thing on which we do see eye to eye is that the best way of dealing with the issue is through the legislation that has been promised, that is, the sale of loan books to unregulated third parties Bill. It is also welcome that it is being brought forward and I believe the Minister will see generosity on the part of the Opposition when it is brought before the House. However, I still cannot see why we will have to wait until autumn for its publication. That being said, I take issue with a number of the Minister's points, including on the issue of the CCMA in primary legislation. It should be included in primary legislation. It is hugely important and many thousands of people rely on it. Banks also rely on it in terms of repossession and so forth, as do the courts, even though it does not have legal status in primary legislation. There has never been a debate on it in this House. It is dealt with by officials at Central Bank level. It went out for consultation and most people who were consulted were completely against the changes that were made in the recent code. As legislators, we should have a say on the CCMA and including it in primary legislation might be a starting point in giving it legal clarity.

The second point is that we know that this is a two-step process. The Bill is about ICS loans transferring to a financial institution regulated in the State, but the second step is that they have to be transferred out of that financial institution. That is where the real risk lies, which is why we should be taking a step now, as clumsy as it may be. There was an opportunity for the Minister, his officials and the Attorney General, with all of the resources at their disposal, to fine tune this proposal because this issue was flagged at pre-legislative stage. However, as with IBRC mortgage holders, the Minister is again acting in the interests of major financial institutions instead of mortgage holders. It is only because of pressure from me, Deputy Michael McGrath and others, including many Independent Deputies, that we have seen the fast-tracking of the Bill, if one could even call it that since we will not see it until the autumn.

See this speech in context