Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is the climate in which an old lady of 93 cannot get through on the telephone, a lovely Greek word from ancient civilisation; "telos" means far away and "phone" means voice - the faraway voice.

In respect of Germany, only a few weeks ago, in regard to the migration of refugees, our papers were full of, "Germany has gone in to overdrive in generosity". The figure of 1% of its population, 800,000 people, is nothing compared to what Greece has had as an actuality on its islands and shores, namely, 310,000 people, first arrivals. The country is on its knees with 24% ordinary unemployment and 50% youth unemployment, and the titans of finance are wondering if it is good for another bailout. It gets madder and madder. The lads will all meet - the powerful, the fewer with the more - in Davos in Switzerland in January for another mutual congratulations bash about how rich and powerful they are.

The Government has an opportunity. It has big numbers in whatever months there are left to do a few things rather than to talk about them. It should bring in a gambling control Bill. We now host and accommodate one of the world's biggest gambling organisations, after a so-called merger, or takeover, during the summer. The Government sleeps and sits on its hands and collects only 1% turnover tax. It is absurd. For every 500 jobs in that organisation there are 5,000 families going down the tubes.

This is the climate we live in, the one we feel and the one the 130,000 families on housing waiting lists know. It is the climate the 1,500 children who do not have a home feel. What about the so-called restructured loans? The banks are telling us they have everything under control. That is so Mad Hatter, so Alice in Wonderland, it is unbelievable. They fiddle with accounting, dividing a thing up into a split mortgage, one would think it was an ice cream. It is rubbish. A loan to a person or people to buy a home to raise a family is a loan. It is secured by the lender by a mortgage on the property. The sooner we start talking the truthful language, the better we will understand what is happening. Banks enter into loans with people to house and raise a family for up to 30 years, and only a sixth of the way through the original loan term, they say, "We are changing it and splitting it." They say to people they think they can handle part A for the rest of their working lives and that they will freeze part B until 25 years later. By the way, they win all the time, because when people retire on a State pension, if they are lucky, they will activate the other loan with the cumulative hidden interest. That is the climate those families live in. If they cannot honour - listen to the word "honour" - the restructured nonsense, the bank has gone on with-----

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