Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last month, my colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, introduced a Bill to deal with this very issue. It is timely that we are again debating these matters just as another deadline has passed without any satisfactory move to change interest rates. The banks agreed to review their rates and products by the beginning of July, but that did not happen. Our Bill, like the one we are debating this evening, did not ask for anything too radical. It simply asked that the Government do what it said it would, namely, to act forcefully and decisively in dealing with the banks in order to protect the public, including the home owners who bailed out those banks. The Government's deeds have fallen very short of its claims.

As with the Sinn Féin Bill last month, Deputy Michael McGrath's proposals represent only a small step in the right direction but would nevertheless be an important move towards making the Government's commitments a reality and helping struggling mortgage holders. The Government opposed our Bill last month and has already indicated it will take the same position on these proposals. Like the banks, this Government remains predictable in its failure to do anything meaningful to help home owners. It made clear last month that its commitments to be strong and act in the interests of the people are merely what Fine Gael and the Labour Party do at election time.

In the early 2000s, Fianna Fáil engineered the property bubble and sold the public the lie that everybody could afford huge mortgages and would be fools not to avail of them. The party in government was aided and abetted by RTE, The Irish Timesand the Independent Newspapers group. Fianna Fáil went on to oversee a catastrophic bank bailout, the facts of which we are only now beginning to untangle. It must be a little hard for Ministers to be lectured by Fianna Fáil, but constant references to that party's responsibility for mortgage distress and the economic trouble this country suffered in recent years does nothing for the people who are struggling to keep their homes.

Many people who simply wanted a home for their family were left in dire straits, with falling incomes and massive mortgages. The banks were ripping off mortgage customers then and they continue to do so unhindered to this day by the current Government, which has been forceful in its treatment of lone parents, carers and other vulnerable groups but not with bankers. We need a firm hand to bring the banks into line and protect home owners. Sinn Féin sought to introduce that firm hand last month and by way of previous legislative proposals brought forward by Deputy Doherty, but the Government baulked at the idea. In the week when the courage of the Greek people has sent shock waves through the EU establishment, the measure of this Government's cowardice is all the more stark and embarrassing.

No institution in our society has ever been better protected than the banks. Meanwhile, vulnerable sectors of our communities are regularly vilified, humiliated and insulted by a Government which has sought to remove the entitlements people have won over the years, the basic supports which keep them alive. If the Government had shown a fraction of the concern for the needs of homeless families and those in housing need as it shows for bankers' feelings, we certainly would not have more than 1,000 children in emergency accommodation tonight. We would not have an €18 million hole in funding for homeless services in Dublin city. These facts give the lie to the rubbish from Government about its commitment to tackling housing issues. It has ignored these devastating social issues and chosen instead to treat bailed out bankers as sacred cows even though they continue to ride roughshod over the people of this State.

The kid gloves must come off now. We need that forceful and decisive hand in dealing with the banks. Deputy Eamon Gilmore, as former leader of the Labour Party, promised four years ago that his party in government would wield that firm hand. This Bill would be a step in the right direction. It is on the side of the home owners of Ireland, not the banks. Unfortunately, that principle is utterly absent from the actions of this Government. These proposals would introduce a legal process to allow the Financial Regulator to set a cap on the standard variable rate imposed by bailed out institutions. We have waited too long for the banks and the Government to act in favour of home owners or with any modicum of fairness in mind.

The time for asking for compliance is past; it is time now to demand actions by the banks and legislate accordingly. This Bill is an extraordinary measure for the extraordinary times in which we are living. The families struggling to keep their homes are in need of such measures to ease their hardship. The banks must play their part in building a fair recovery. The opportunity was provided through the Bill we brought forward last month to do so and, prior to that, by our Interest Rates Approval Bill. If no action is taken now, even stronger measures will be needed in the future. When the Dáil rises for the summer recess next week, the struggles of families with variable-rate mortgages will continue. They cannot wait any longer for a change. They have waited for four years under this Government, paying a rate that is higher than that charged anywhere else in Europe and more than 1.4 percentage points higher than the median rate.

The time to be decisive and forceful is now. This Bill should be supported, as the Bills brought forward by Sinn Féin should have been supported. Otherwise, we will be back here in September debating the same issue and no closer to a solution while families go on struggling, with no hope offered by the Government. Reference was made earlier to the prospect of the banks being sold off in the future. I offer the Government a warning in this regard. We have bailed out these banks and supported them. They belong to the people, not to the Government. There was no proper negotiation by Government when it came to the bailout, so I should not expect Ministers to talk to the banks, even though we have ownership of them. Indeed, their record in terms of negotiations is well known. Members opposite like to lecture my party on economics. I say to them that economic madness is when a debt of €88 billion ends up at more than €200 billion as a result of helping out bondholders and others.

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