Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill and I am delighted to see it before the House. Everybody recognises the importance of having in place tough legislation to deal with white collar criminals. We see it too often. There is a huge gulf between the attitude of the State to criminals, such as thieves, and its attitude to those involved in white collar crime. This attitude stems from a belief that white collar crime has a less serious impact on victims. Tell that to the 33,000 families who have had their money stolen from them by the banks in the tracker mortgage scandal. These people suffered. It was not just a small increase in repayments on their homes. Many of these people saw their repayments reach such a level that they had to put their entire lives on hold. Many could not afford to put food on their tables. They were stretched to their limits. Imagine the huge stress this brought on them. Up to 100 of these families lost their homes as a result of what the banks did yet not a single person will be held criminally accountable for this disgraceful behaviour. It is about time bankers who blatantly lie to the Central Bank are held to account. It is totally outrageous. It makes my blood boil that many of these people are on enormous salaries and are working for institutions that are being bankrolled by the taxpayer, yet they have the sheer cheek to lie to the Central Bank. It is time to get tough with them once and for all and hopefully they will think twice about ever doing this again.

See this speech in context