Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank every Deputy who took part in this evening's debate. I also acknowledge and thank my colleague Deputy Pearse Doherty for introducing this legislation, and I thank Fianna Fáil and Independent Deputies for stating their support for allowing this Bill to go through to Committee Stage.

The Minister of State's rhetoric is depressing, though not unexpected. We are disappointed but not terribly surprised that Government will not support this Sinn Féin Bill. If recent history is anything to go by, the Government may well have moved to adopt Sinn Féin's position on this matter before the election, just as it did, very belatedly, on the bank's veto and on the need for a full, albeit limited, commission of investigation into the IBRC allegations and a range of other issues. However, it might just be too much to ask the Government to stand up to the banks. Ask the hundreds of thousands of families if this Government is capable of standing up to the banks. Ask those who know how the banks hold a veto over a new beginning because of the insolvency laws the Government brought forward. Ask all those who have lost their homes because the banks wanted the law changed to let them repossess family homes. Ask their opinion on whether the Government really believes that this is a bad Bill, or whether the Minister, the Government and all their friends are just afraid of the banks. I think I know and can predict what the people would tell the Minister if he were to put those questions to them.

This Government is neither willing to nor capable of standing up to the banks, on this issue or on any other. It hides behind EU rules and it hopes that foreign competitors will come riding in on white horses any day to save the day. That is simply not realistic. Fundamentally, all the arguments we have heard tonight against this Bill boil down to a single argument, namely, that the interests of the banks must come first. Never mind the social disaster that has brought us here and never mind the clear rip-off that is going on. According to the Minister, it seems that no account should be taken of the unprecedented situation we have found ourselves in for years. No account should be taken of the fact that we have lived through a massive recession, a huge part of which, let us remember, is down to the banks. The Minister says the Government will look at this again if there is not sufficient progress by the banks. I note that there is no definition of what might constitute sufficient progress. How are we to judge sufficient progress? Who will judge sufficient progress? The Bank of Ireland has already decided that it is not going to play ball. What is the Government going to do about that? I think we all know the answer.

The bank runs rings around this Government every day of the week and it is now beyond a joke. The Government owns the banks on paper, but in terms of policy, the banks own the Government. I do not know what country Deputy Áine Collins has been living in if she thinks banking is just a normal business.

It is far from it. The Minister says it is not the right time to act. How many hundreds of thousands need to be ripped off - a rip-off proved by the Central Bank - before it is the right time to act? One would swear, listening to Government, that there are hordes of banks lining up to get into Ireland and the only thing stopping them is the possibility of this mild and modest proposal. It is a mild Government intervention. We accept and we have stated that there is need for competition. However, we know that is not going to happen tomorrow or the next day. In the meantime, the Government seems content not to rock the boat and to let the banks carry on with the highest interest rates in Europe. One could not make this up. This "hear no evil, see no evil" approach to the banks and their scandalously high rates serves no purpose. It seems to be an ideological blind spot for the Government. It is a failed approach that shows that, after four years, this Government has learned nothing.

The Minister of State said that giving more power to the Central Bank could somehow raise issues of encroachment on the independence of the Central Bank. Let us think about that. How is it that giving the Central Bank more power makes it less independent? That has not been set out.

The Minister of State stated earlier that it would not be appropriate to accept this legislation in advance of the date agreed by the banks, by which time, she told us, they will have simple options in place to reduce the monthly mortgage payments of the hard-pressed households on standard variable rates. She said this as though there were any repercussions for the banks if they do not act by July or as if the Government was insisting on a set target by which to reduce rates when we know there have been no repercussions for the banks. The signs are that there will be no repercussions for the banks and the Government has taken a studied, deliberate and consistent hands-off approach.

There are no real reasons not to support this Bill. It is a reaction from a Government that knows it has done nothing for four years and is facing a very angry group of people who are being ripped off every month by banks owned by the Government. If the Government votes against this Bill, it confirms again its inability and unwillingness to take on the banks and to stand up for struggling mortgage holders. It demonstrates again that it has nothing to offer but lip-service for the ripped-off. It did this almost casually this evening. The Government's concern is not worth a single euro or a single cent to any of those struggling mortgage holders. It has nothing but lip-service for the ripped-off mortgage holders and empty, meaningless posturing for the banks, such as calling them in for a chat, to somehow win them over by the force of its argument. That has not achieved anything and the prospects of it achieving anything are minimal. The banks see through the Government. They have it sussed. The people see through it too. It is allowing them to be ripped off. It is as simple as that. Tonight's debate confirms that fact.

The Minister of State said that the banks need to act. How is that a convincing argument from a Government that itself refuses to act? Has he thought about the Government's credibility and standing in the eyes of banks that have been obstinate, greedy and totally unappreciative of the rescue afforded to them by hard-pressed citizens and taxpayers or did all of that float over his head? I ask him again to support this Bill in, as he said, the common interest we share for these struggling families, to allow it go to Committee Stage and to allow action after four years of inertia, denial and a disregard for those families.

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