Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The issue of compensation has been discussed widely at our committee meetings for many months now. We are in sync here in believing the arrangement is not working. We have heard testimonies showing it is not. I believe this will be dealt with only through the courts unless there is action to set up some type of uniform redress scheme. This is why we have taken forward the class-action legislation.

On a separate matter, I have brought to the attention of the Central Bank that it was a policy of Bank of Ireland, where customers with tracker mortgages sought to restructure loans, to add 1% to the tracker mortgage rate as part of the restructuring. I teased this out with the Minister in parliamentary questions over the past week or so. The answer obtained, through the Central Bank, was that this is not allowed unless it is the only viable option for the customer. The matter would have to be dealt with individually, and each individual would have to deem it the appropriate action. My information, which I have on good authority, is that what I describe was policy and standard practice within the bank. It was absolutely wrong, therefore. The Central Bank was not aware of this. I am following this up with it. I ask the Minister, on behalf of those customers whose mortgages were restructured and who had an additional 1% added to their tracker mortgage rates as a result, to take up this issue now instead of having to deal with it six or nine months down the line when we eventually force action on this matter. Will the Minister bring it up directly with the Central Bank and Bank of Ireland, in which he has a significant shareholding on behalf of the State?

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