Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy McGrath on his Bill. I am all for competition, but sadly the banks we as a nation bailed out have created cartels and are screwing the Irish public. People from all parts of the country are struggling to pay their mortgages and the cartels in the banking sector continue. It is a sad day when the Government has to intervene, but the reality is that it has to be done because AIB, EBS and other banks owned by the people have given us the two fingers. They decided to close branches in small towns and pull out in order to make their figures count, and to hell with the people who stood behind them in their hour of need.

The only sector which picked up the slack in rural Ireland was the credit union sector. I have asked that the Minister give credit unions the facilities to clear cheques, do bank transfers and make sure they can function and compete with banks. When credit unions put money into banks they pay for the service, which is wrong. I urge the Minister to change that.

People who currently take out new mortgages can pay 1% to 2% less than those who have been paying them for years, which is wrong. The banks have to be hauled in because they cannot get away with it. We know they can get money at a very cheap rate from the likes of the ECB. What goes around comes around. If we do not give householders a break, there will be even more than the 99,000 people currently in trouble looking for help.

The banks were bailed out to the tune of €65 billion, but every Deputy has met people whom the banks have tried to evict from their houses. This is an intolerable situation that should not and cannot be allowed to continue. The Irish people did not sacrifice €65 billion for their neighbours, friends or any other Irish person with a family to be thrown out of their houses.

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