Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I fully support tonight's motion and I commend Sinn Féin for bringing it forward. It is really hard to believe, eight years since the financial crash, that this kind of carry-on is still evident within our banks. It is also hard to fathom that only the work of individuals who looked at their own contracts and fought this brought the issue to light by bringing the banks to court to vindicate their rights. We can consider that at least 15,000 mortgage holders and families are affected by this and the banks have admitted to 41 cases where families have lost their homes because of the actions of banks. Up to 100 families may have lost their homes because of these actions. It is disgraceful.

Anybody on this side of the House who considers this reasonably must conclude that this was a co-operative action on behalf of the banks. It is too much of a coincidence that all the banks suddenly arrived together at a decision that they could do this and attempt to get away with it. Nobody would have seen a group of businesses stumble across the same idea and put it into action independently. We have seen cartels operating in other forms of business across the country and there is no doubt in my mind that a cartel operated among banks as well with the goal of defrauding their customers and citizens who bailed out those same banks. We have loaded debt on our society to keep those banks going.

This issue must be investigated fully and the Central Bank must be given every power to ensure executives within the banks pay for this and are held individually accountable. The institutions must also be held accountable for their actions. I find it very difficult to square the Government's amendment, which argues that the Central Bank of Ireland has a considerable range of supervisory, investigative and enforcement powers that have been enhanced in recent years across a wide range of areas to combat and punish wrongdoing with the evidence of the former financial regulator, Mr. Matthew Elderfield. He indicated to the Committee of Public Accounts that he did not believe current legislation in the Statute Book is strong enough to bring people to account for white collar crime.

This demonstrates what we seem to think of white collar crime in this country. We think it is grand, dandy and dead-on if one can get away with it. If a person gets caught, he or she can throw his or her hands up and give a few euro of compensation to the people it affects. Then he or she can trundle on a merry way, finding the next scheme to screw the customer base and get away with it again. That is what is wrong. The banks in this and probably every country are amoral institutions. They do not care about the individuals they deal with or the people and lives they destroy. All they care about is the pursuit of profit. Unfortunately and sadly, this and the previous Government have done nothing but ensure these institutions can continue without hindrance as we will foot the bill and pump in the money to allow them continue. This must stop now.

See this speech in context