Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government takes this issue very seriously. I am glad to understand that the two largest parties in this House have agreed upon a motion for tomorrow night. There is a very clear message coming from the Oireachtas in respect of how unacceptable the behaviour of banks has been in the context of the tracker mortgage scandal, which we are trying to bring to a conclusion. We had a Government meeting last night, most of which was taken up by a discussion on this issue.

The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, has made it crystal clear that he sees this as a totally unacceptable breach of the kind of standards that banks should be applying. This is unfortunately a recognition that for some in Irish banks, there is still a cultural problem. It needs to change. We have seen both the Central Bank and the Minister for Finance make very clear and blunt statements on the need for banks themselves to respond in a more comprehensive way than has been the case to date. Clearly, different banks are behaving differently in terms of the pace of co-operation with the Central Bank. That is also something that needs to come to an end this week. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, met representatives of three banks yesterday, namely, Bank of Ireland, KBC and Permanent TSB. Today he will meet representatives of AIB and Ulster Bank. The Minister has given a very consistent message to all five that the Government regards their behaviour in this scandal as totally unacceptable. Banks should be there to serve an economy and a society as opposed to the other way around. There are families today who have lost homes and others who have lost properties because of the dishonest behaviour of banks in the context of tracker mortgages and their attempts to get people off them for some time now.

I want to give a very clear message to the House that the Minister, supported by the Government, is going to see this through. He will make a lengthy statement to the House tomorrow in the context of his meetings this week. We also expect comprehensive statements from all five banks addressing how they intend to bring this saga and scandal to an end and to ensure that people get their money back, as well as get the appropriate redress they are due. The damage that has been caused is, unfortunately, a further example of banks not acting in the interests of the public but acting in their own interests.

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