Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To be frank, the banks have told the Government where to go, and they have told the Minister where to go. Only two banks have responded. AIB made a reduction of 0.25%, a very minor reduction. The reduction announced by KBC was very convoluted and even more minor again in terms of its impact. Bank of Ireland has not reduced the SV rate. It has left it untouched. Ulster Bank has not responded in any shape or form. The Taoiseach said today was the first day by which a response should be made but it was the final date for the banks to get back to the Minister with meaningful proposals and responses to the standard variable rate issue.

The Taoiseach said in response to a question from me in April that from any moral or ethical point of view, when banks are now restructured and on their way to making a profit again, it is just not acceptable that when they themselves can borrow at much cheaper rates, they continue to have higher rates applied to mortgage holders. That is exactly what is going on right now. We know from all the evidence to the Oireachtas committee that the cost of funds is far lower than what the banks are charging the standard variable rate mortgage customer. It is a shocking rip-off. What the Taoiseach has proposed today is more inertia, as has been the case for years. It is not a question of whether the Central Bank wants the legislation, it is the Oireachtas that must do something about the situation because the sums of money are enormous for the households that are affected. The situation is much more significant than the combined effect of property tax and water charges in terms of the sums of money that have been gouged out of hundreds of thousands of families by unacceptable behaviour by the banks. According to the Taoiseach’s own words, the situation is unacceptable from an ethical and moral point of view. In April, the Tánaiste said gratitude would only get one so far with the banks, and that she had never known bankers to be a especially grateful sort of people.

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