Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:

“notes that:— in January 2017, the Dáil passed a motion which included a call on the Central Bank of Ireland to impose a deadline for the banks to conclude their investigations and to put in place a redress and compensation scheme;

— mortgage rates charged by banks in Ireland, in particular variable rates, continue to be among the highest in Europe;

— the main Irish banks are now highly profitable again;

— problems regarding how the banks were treating tracker mortgage customers were highlighted well before 2015 and at least 7,100 mortgage accounts were affected by tracker related issues across a number of banks up to 2015;

— in October 2015, the Central Bank of Ireland launched an industry-wide examination of tracker mortgage related issues;

— the Central Bank of Ireland has confirmed that, as of the end of September 2017, around 13,000 mortgage account holders had been wrongly denied their contractual right to a tracker rate of interest or were put on the wrong tracker rate;

— the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland confirmed to the Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach Committee on 19th October that the number affected is almost certain to increase further;

— some banks involved in the Tracker Mortgage Examination have informally threatened the Central Bank of Ireland with legal action;

— as a direct result of being denied their rights, customers lost the ownership of 102 properties, including 23 private dwelling homes and 79 buy-to-let properties;

— the actions of the banks on this issue have caused untold damage and suffering to the people affected, and in many of these cases, no amount of compensation will be sufficient to repair the harm that has been done to people's lives;

— the emotional and harrowing testimonies of the customers, who have highlighted the impacts on their health and mental health as a result of the banks’ actions, have been pivotal in bringing this issue to light;

— according to the Central Bank of Ireland, two lenders have failed to properly identify populations of affected customers’ and therefore have not fully completed Phase 2 of the Tracker Mortgage Examination within the required time;

— the lenders’ initial redress and compensation proposals fell materially short of the Central Bank of Ireland’s expectations and the regulator had to repeatedly challenge the banks to improve their proposals;

— as part of this examination, the Central Bank of Ireland has commenced enforcement investigations against Permanent TSB and Ulster Bank Ireland DAC, and is preparing two further enforcement investigations, with possibly more to follow;

— only 25 per cent of impacted mortgage accounts have to date received redress and compensation; and

— the approach taken by the banks to date is not acceptable to this House and has inflicted further unnecessary pain and hardship on those affected;calls on the banks concerned to:— formally apologise to the customers concerned;

— commit to correcting the overcharging as a matter of urgency and place all relevant mortgage accounts back on tracker mortgage rates without delay;

— fully and comprehensively complete Phase 2 of the Tracker Mortgage Examination process without any further delay;

— identify all customers affected by the tracker related issues without any further delay and to publish these figures in their entirety, once they are finalised;

— communicate the up-to-date position to all mortgage holders in the scope of the Tracker Mortgage Examination;

— pay redress and compensation, at a level that is at a minimum in line with Central Bank of Ireland expectations, to all affected customers without delay;

— provide a detailed explanation on how this scandal occurred in the first instance;

— cease all repossession action where the mortgage concerned is in the scope of the Tracker Mortgage Examination;

— pay adequate compensation to those who lost their home as a result of the banks’ actions to enable them to purchase an appropriate replacement home; and

— publish a weekly update of the position for all customers affected in the scope of the Tracker Mortgage Examination outlining the numbers redressed and compensated and to communicate this report to the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach;calls on the Central Bank of Ireland to:— provide a firm deadline of no later than 1st January, 2018 in which the Central Bank of Ireland expects all affected accounts to be identified and corrected and for all redress and compensation to be paid;

— use the full statutory powers at their disposal to ensure that the lenders meet their obligations to the affected customers without delay, by putting them on the correct rate of interest and by paying redress and compensation in line with Central Bank of

Ireland expectations;

— conduct a thorough investigation, in respect of each lender in the Tracker Mortgage Examination, as to how this tracker scandal occurred in the first place;

— investigate whether there was any co-ordination, formal or informal, across the industry in the handling of tracker related issues;

— report circumstances where it obtains information that gives rise to a suspicion that a criminal offence may have been committed by any individual to the relevant authorities including An Garda Síochána, the Revenue Commissioners, the Director of Corporate Enforcement, and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission; and

— ensure all customers are put back onto the rate applicable as per their contract; and calls on the Government to:— meet with the Central Bank of Ireland and all banks affected and inform them that these practices are unacceptable and have to be corrected without further delay;

— provide whatever resources that are necessary to the Central Bank of Ireland to complete the Tracker Mortgage Examination;

— ensure that all statutory powers available are utilised so that lenders meet their obligations to the affected customers without delay;

— introduce legislation, on request from the Central Bank of Ireland, to confer whatever powers are necessary to allow the Central Bank to complete its work and to enable it to impose deadlines for banks to both redress and compensate customers;

— implement the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission's 2005 Report on Multi-Party Litigation;

— legislate so that individuals in financial institutions can be held accountable for their actions;

— consider:

— all options to impose sanctions on banks that fail to address this issue in a comprehensive and timely manner; and

— voting against the reappointment of the entire board of directors in respect of the banks that the State is a shareholder of;

— strengthen consumer protection laws for bank customers and provide extra powers to the Central Bank of Ireland and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission;

— introduce a help line in the Central Bank of Ireland and the Financial Services Ombudsman to assist bank customers in relation to tracker mortgages; and

— reaffirm its commitment on the pay cap in place for banks and the ban on bonuses.

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