Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The fundamental point for me, and for customers and people who have availed of a payment break, is whether the banks will make any extra money out of this. If somehow they make extra money out of it by making some sort of Covid premium or Covid bonus for the banks, that is not acceptable and we will deal with that but that is what has to be worked out because that is what matters. It appears to me, and this is what was explained in the meeting, is that if a loan is issued for ten years and it is extended to ten and a half years, 11 years or whatever, there is an additional cost to finance. Somebody has to bear that additional cost to finance and I do not believe it should be the general community, whether it is customers or taxpayers. If it is a case that the banks are making an extra profit out of this or are benefiting from it in some way, that would be a scandal in my view. If that is the way it turns out, we will deal with it.

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