Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, does not need me to tell her that there are many people in Ireland in a very difficult place with regard to property. With every passing month of the past seven or eight years since the crisis started the situation has become starker. I know more about banks and receivers than I want to know. Given my involvement in the building industry, I have been contacted by people from all over the 26 counties of Ireland whose stories in terms of what has happened to them are very sad. In bailing out the banks people were of the opinion that because they were paying to sort out the banks' problems their problems would, in turn, be dealt with. However, that is not what happened.

Allied Irish Bank, which is owned by the taxpayer, is becoming increasingly aggressive in trying to dispose of its distressed assets because it is likely to be sold soon. It does not give a damn about the people at the receiving end of its actions. That is the sad truth. We have not put manners on our financial institutions or receivers. Institutions apply the letter of the law when it suits them and they also bend it as they see fit when it suits them. Over the past seven years, it has been the case that power walks tall and the rest can stuff it.

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