Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I support the motion, another motion on the banks. It is like déjà vuor Groundhog Day. We come back here every couple of months to debate issues dealing with the banks which have been heftily bailed out by the people. They continue to implement policies that are counterproductive for the ordinary person. The motion correctly calls on them to reduce their tracker interest rates to match the ECB rates. I have a variable rate mortgage with KBC for €187,000 and am repaying at 4.5%. I paid €8,000 in interest last year, which would be standard for many people in post offices and ordinary jobs who are on an average industrial wage. An extra €6,000 in their pockets would make a huge difference to the economy. Having all those people with money to spend in the economy would be very progressive at this stage.

The motion calls for "legislation to ensure that all residential home loans in the State are subject to the protection of the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears". The banks are blatantly refusing to implement the code of conduct, which is why I recently introduced legislation that was supported by the Opposition but not by the Government. The purpose of that legislation was to force the banks to adhere to the code of conduct.

The CEO of AIB has the audacity to turn around and say that because of moral hazard the bank cannot write off mortgage debt or write it down. He says that it cannot use a magic wand to do this and can only deal with cases one by one. The Minister for Finance can wave a magic wand and give AIB €21 billion of taxpayers' money. The Government waved the magic wand, got rid of the moral hazard and bailed out the banks. These banks should be told to implement a reduction in interest rates.

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