Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The issue of requiring the banks to hold additional capital for losses they may incur is one we support, but I wish to focus on the pro-vulture part of this directive. The best option for the Irish people - indeed, working people throughout Europe - is to throw out this proposal. Failing that, massive change is needed to ensure that any type of consumer protection, or indeed human rights protection, is weaved into it. The proposal represents the EU at its worst. It is simply about the needs of capital, and to hell with the ordinary people. This Parliament supported my No Consent, No Sale Bill, which represents an approach that has consumer protection, not bank protection, at its heart, its core. In Brussels speak, the directive is about establishing a second market for loan sales. In normal speak, this means making it easier and even more attractive for banks to sell mortgages or their loans to the vultures. As Mr. Carthy, MEP, has said, the directive amounts to a second bailout and is the wrong policy.

There is also a question of sovereignty because the directive throws a pro-vulture blanket across Europe. The Minister may be comfortable with this but we in Sinn Féin will resist it.

Finally, and I want the Minister's specific views on this, the proposal will also empower banks to seize customers' collateral through out-of-court recovery mechanisms and will result in borrowers, including mortgage holders, being pursued more aggressively by vulture funds and debt collectors. Is the Minister looking to oppose or seriously amend this?

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