Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government has moved the economy from crisis to recovery. With political stability, it has contributed greatly to the economic stability that we now see. The last tracker mortgages were issued in Ireland in 2008, and half of all mortgages today are tracker mortgages. A tracker mortgage gives the borrower a really welcome respite. The banks themselves admit, and the figures that Deputy McGrath put on the record last night show, that the cost of funding tracker mortgages is still significantly lower than that of funding in total for the banks. Therefore, half the mortgages of the banks are actually loss leaders for them, but I agree with Deputy McGrath that we must continue to put pressure on the banks to hold them to account on variable rates that really are out of sync with those in the rest of Europe.

The Government has introduced some measures to help hard-pressed people with variable rate mortgages. The Government has given relief to all those who took out mortgages between 2004 and 2008, but it is now time for the banks to make a contribution. It is also time for the Governor of the Central Bank to take a stronger role in regard to what we are going to do for individuals who are repaying mortgages with variable rates that are out of sync.

As Chairman of the finance committee, I have invited the banks to appear before it after Easter. Twice per year, representatives of the banks appear before us. The committee is a public forum where everybody can hear the contributions being made by the banks and the questions asked by members of all parties and none. That is why it surprises me that, through this Private Members' motion, the Opposition wants to give more power to the Economic Management Council. Deputy McGrath regards it more as a solution than anything else. I would have expected that in this area of greater transparency and accountability, we would want the banks to make themselves more accountable to the Parliament of the people. I ask that Deputy McGrath consider the view that we really should be asking the banks to keep appearing before us and making statements in public. With the improvement in the economy, the great strides we have made in getting people back to work and our stabilisation of the crisis of recent years, perhaps we should be having a conversation on whether we still need the Economic Management Council rather than regarding it as the solution to our problems.

I agree that not everybody is feeling the benefits of our rapidly growing economy or the dramatic increases in employment. This is why we must do everything we can to help keep people in their homes. There is still a real crisis over mortgage arrears, and it is a real concern. The banks can and must do more, and we need to put more pressure on them. Owing to the crisis that was inflicted on the Irish people, of which we are all aware and which we have discussed many times in this House, not everybody can avoid losing home ownership. There are solutions whereby one can stay in one's home, but it is not always possible to maintain ownership. We need to be pushing the solutions to remove the awful stress affecting too many people at present.

People need somewhere to live. The Government is doing a lot and has plans to do much more. Now that the economy has improved, we can invest more resources in it, which is very important, but the banks also need to show us they can do much more now that they have stabilised.

There is one thing I do not agree with. Politicians do not make good bankers. Whatever disasters that have occurred in recent years because of bankers looking after banks, the idea of politicians taking control of banks certainly will not improve the situation. We can make changes to legislation and there are other things we can do. However, we must ensure that we continue the stability that we have put in place in our economy and amplify the confidence that we have given back to people. We have given that confidence to all the people who are working, whether self-employed people who own their own businesses or the people who are employed by those small or medium-sized businesses. We are giving increasing confidence and we are getting people back to work. Now, the point has been reached when those who have benefited from what the Government has done to stabilise the situation, including the banks, should seriously give something back to help these people.

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