Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this very serious issue. I commend Deputy Michael McGrath on tabling another excellent motion, highlighting the problems nobody seems to be addressing. It is putting untold unnecessary pressure on families and people in general.

There is only one word to describe this; it is absolutely outrageous. It is a scandal of the highest level. The banks and bankers have wrecked families' lives and driven them out on the street and they do not appear to give a damn. They have got away with it and we are depending on the Central Bank to hold them to account. We know the Central Bank has failed us in this situation. The people who made the decisions and signed off on this are known and can be found out. What will be done? Will these people be brought to justice? Will they be highlighted? Will they be chased in the way that they chase people who miss one month's repayment on a mortgage or chase businesses to take back their small well-serviced overdrafts? Those businesses have been the lifeblood of the economy over the past ten years and give the Government the money to deliver the front-line services.

That is what is happening in reality. If we want to go to the Central Bank and pretend everything is good, we are not in the real world. There is a major systemic problem here. It needs to be dealt with and the Government must lead. The tail can no longer wag the dog, as is happening. These people must be brought to account and justice must be done because this is scandalous. Families have been destroyed. I was concerned when I heard the Taoiseach today speak of the Central Bank taking advice from the Central Bank. The Central Bank was the very bank that gave the Government advice last year when Deputy Michael McGrath wanted to introduce a Bill to help put €250 a month into people's pockets which was unfairly taken from them by the commercial banks because the variable interest rate is 1.5 to 1.7 percentage points higher than other European countries. However, the Central Bank advised that we could not do that and the Government resisted it. While I do not like saying it, how can we rely on the Central Bank and perhaps elements within the Government to deal with this comprehensively and get the people properly compensated? It is wrong; it is a scandal.

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