Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

First, I acknowledge that the Deputy's statement is absolutely right. What those companies did was totally inappropriate, wrong and unforgivable. The bank in question has been fined €18.3 million because of how it dealt with 3,741 customers, and it has had to repay, to date, €153.5 million. Permanent TSB was previously fined €21 million because of how it treated tracker customers.

As I have said, it is shocking that they wrongly took people off cheap loans and that this led to the loss of 11 family homes. Nobody would condone or accept that. The Government welcomes the actions of the Central Bank to hold KBC to account and compensate borrowers and it has committed to making mortgage lending in Ireland fair and transparent. The programme for Government commits to increasing the availability of long-term fixed rate mortgages, as well as examining the development of green mortgages and State-backed mortgages for first-time buyers. It also commits to examining the introduction of a code of conduct on mortgage switching.

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