Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is very difficult to take the Minister seriously when he says he is defending Ireland's interest when it comes to this issue because we know from past and very recent experience, and we know today, Valentine's Day, that the Minister is a vulture lover, as indeed are the rest of his Cabinet. He has sat on his hands and facilitated banks in which the Department has the majority shareholding selling off performing loans to the vultures and has thrown them to the mercy of those vultures.

The Minister did not answer the question I asked him. Going into the detail of this package of directives, there is, for example, a proposal for out-of-court recovery mechanisms. This means that vultures would in future be allowed to bypass the court system to repossess more aggressively the homes and properties of those who fall into arrears or who are finding it difficult to pay the entire sums of their mortgages at that point in time. This Minister and this Government have standing in this regard. We have heard previous Ministers say they believe vultures are a good thing. They opposed my legislation, which, thankfully, has passed Second Stage in the Dáil and is now on Committee Stage, and which will allow borrowers to determine themselves whether they support the sale of their loans to the vultures.

Will the Minister answer the specific question I put to him earlier? Is he opposed to the idea of out-of-court recovery mechanisms for vultures to secure collateral without going through the courts system? Is the Government seeking amendments to this? Will the Minister oppose it at European level or continue in his approach as a vulture lover?

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