Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will raise one case which is useful in respect of what is happening here. A family in County Meath bought two houses in 2006 as part of their plans to provide for their pensions. The mortgage was contractually to revert to a tracker mortgage after two years. In 2008 this did not happen and the bank started to overcharge. The bank charged the family to the tune of €31,000 over the correct amount in that period. The differential on a monthly basis was about €500 extra, or about 37% more than should have been charged.

The family scrimped and scraped and managed to pay that mortgage from 2008 to 2013 but then the family broke and they went into serious arrears through no fault of their own. The bank threatened the family with receivers and forced them into a sale of those houses.

This family comprises four young children. They suffered unimaginable stress and also feared that the family farm would also be forcibly sold. The houses were emptied of their tenants and the sales process was brought through each stage only to be stopped at the final stage because the bank felt that the amount that would be achieved from the sale would not be sufficient to cover the loan. At that point, the bank forced the withdrawal of those sales, the houses were left without tenants and the bank went silent. It made no contact with the family for 18 months. The houses remained empty for two years. Two years of rental income was lost to the family due to the forced sale process being cancelled and the subsequent of silence on the part of the bank. What has happened since? The family has been offered compensation of €3,567 plus some interest with regard to the overcharged amount, bringing the compensation to just over €6,000. The forgone rent in respect of the two houses for two years does not figure for this bank. The nine years of serious stress and anxiety between 2008 and the present day does not figure either.

This nightmare is not over for this particular family. They are still in arrears as a result of what happened to them. The family recently tried to trade in their old broken-down car for a newer second-hand car but when they tried to get finance for it, they were told they could not get it because they have a bad credit rating because they are in arrears, arrears which they are in through no fault of their own. The family is confused. They do not know whether to follow the appeals process or go to court or what the Government proposes to do to fix their situation.

The banks in this State are a law onto themselves. I believe that Fianna Fáil and this Government have overdosed on undue deference to the banks for years. They have maxed out future generations of the Irish people on bank-related debts. The banks are still refusing to deal with tens of thousands of people in mortgage distress. Today, we heard that they are rejecting almost half of the personal insolvency proposals put to them. The Government allowed banks to sell to vulture funds properties that they would not sell at the same price to people living in those houses. It refused to create a public banking sector or to allow the credit unions into the community banking sector. The Government has spoken about a pillar banking system. In reality, what we have is an oligopoly banking system that exists to protect the profits of those particular banks.

The Minister of State, Deputy Michael D'Arcy, mentioned culture. In all of the examples that we have discussed, nobody is being held to account. Not holding people to account creates the culture of unaccountability. This crisis is a function of the culture of unaccountability in the banks. What is really going to hurt people at the back of this latest scandal is the fact that the banks will not pay for this scandal. The people who will pay for it are the same people who are watching this debate, the people who have variable interest rate accounts with the banks. Given the manner in which the Government is proceeding on this matter, it will be variable interest rate account holders and not the shareholders, dividend recipients or staff of the banks who will pay for this.

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