Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There will be no come-back. If we are not careful, we will be locked out from representing people, unfortunate individuals, whether they are self-employed or ordinary decent families who are trying to make a living. We are going down a very dangerous road in this legislation and other legislation yet to be introduced. I do not know if an analysis is ever carried out of the impact of some of the regulations passed by this House. Is provision made for a review of measures after six or 12 months to determine whether they are fit for purpose and having the desired effect because often they do not?

We need to ensure we have robust sanctions in place for irregular or criminal actions with the European financial sector. As I said, this legislation is very confusing for the lay person who is not versed in the detailed terminology of financial law. It is a matter for us, as legislators, to produce proper legislation and to follow through on it by way of its implementation. I note from Reuters news agency that regulators in the United States and Europe have imposed fines of $342 billion on banks since 2009 for misconduct, including violation of anti-money laundering rules, and that this figure is likely to increase to $400 billion by 2020. They are staggering figures. As I said, the fines were imposed by regulators in the United States and Europe. What have we done? I have said previously that all we are doing is rubbing soap on the fat sows with no hair. We are praising them, not holding them to account and letting them off, never mind fining them. I refer to the tracker mortgage scandal and the number of people who were overcharged. There was systemic overcharging of accounts. The banks do not care or give a toss. I know of many families, as I am sure Deputy Michael McGrath and other Deputies do, who are struggling to keep up their repayments at punitive interest rates.

3 o’clock

To be downright robbed from within the bank is shameful, but it is happening. When I was young the bank robbers were on the streets, occasionally with guns, and it was highway robbery. Now, however, it is happening secretly and silently from within the banks. I am not blaming the bank tellers or the managers we meet every day, I am blaming a serious deceit, a marauding undermining of people's right to their proper interest rate and their right to have their accounts. In some cases money has gone missing from accounts or else it is invested in Ponzi schemes and I have heard of many such cases. Okay, the person had to sign up for those schemes but many people who signed up had no idea what they were signing up to and then the whole lot crashed and the money is gone. Like snow off a ditch, it has just disappeared.

We still have these banks, in which the Minister of State and his Government have massive shareholdings, and we are looking at the sale of a lot of mortgage loans for houses, farms and businesses. As a shareholder the Minister was asked by a colleague of mine if he could stop those sales - because he can - and he said he would speak to them at the time but it was a matter for the banks to do all their business. He would look at it when it was finished. That, however, will be too late. It would be trying to close the stable door when the horse has bolted; way too late. We have seen too much of this.

The European Parliament has noted:

Due to the number and scale of cases in which banks were in recent years fined for misconduct, namely for the wilful or intentional disregard of laws, ethics or internal governance and controls, that issue has a potential to create systemic risks [to the banking sector]; the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) already published a dedicated Report on misconduct risk in the banking sector in 2015.

That ESRB report was three years ago. Where is that report or what accountants have taken away the reports? They may not build castles but is anything being acted on? This is very serious and has the potential to create systemic risks in the banking sector and the European Systemic Risk Board has already published a dedicated report. Are we aware? Are we sleepwalking into another devastating banking crisis? We could very easily be doing so. One can walk out the front door here and see all the cranes in the city with development happening. We had boasted before about them but unfortunately they are not for houses or small businesses. All the development is for big investments. We welcome those investments also but in the city we have no room to breathe never mind to live.

In its report the ESRB indicated that over a recent five-year period, the sum of fines has increased significantly reaching a cumulative total of around €200 billion for all banks and €50 billion for EU banks. This clearly indicates the need to not only reform but to introduce severe penalties. The facts are laid before us and the evidence is there. Ireland has been badly burned - scalded in fact - and we need to ensure we have the robust mechanisms in place and robust enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute. Let it hurt where it should hurt - in their pockets. It was fine to hurt the ordinary taxpayer when we had punitive taxation after the crash, but it does not hurt the board of directors if they do not feel it in their pockets. Now we see the audacity of bankers back clamouring for increased pay for their senior bankers. They have very short memories or else they think we are all fools. This is what they think. We have all been fools and the patsys for them, and they got away with it.

On Tuesday we learned that KBC had a family in the courts seeking to purge the family's contempt in the case of a house in Balbriggan. The law agents of this State broke into the house and they resisted, and the family ended up down in the courts. We are very good at that, we have all the power when it comes to the banks and all the State's resources are used. The special forces such as An Garda Síochána often give cover to what I would call marauding thugs who have no business in this country - some of them are ex-soldiers or mercenaries - and who perpetrate fear and terror on families. There is no place for that in our modern democracy but it is happening. There is very little solace for these families in the courts. If they go to the court as lay litigants they have no hope at all. It is the might of the law, the institutions and the regulators on the little people - na daoine beaga - and small businesses and farmers. When it comes to the big and powerful, however, the EU and the Irish institutions can be very slow, feeble, meek and inept in getting after them. Under our Constitution, it should be the same for everybody. I welcome the Bill and will support it but I would like to see some kind of review of it, and some kind of traceability as to its effectiveness. If it is not effective it needs to be beefed up further.

See this speech in context