Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Can the Minister explain this to me? As I understand, these loans are to be reclassified as non-performing loans. When loans are classified as non-performing on a bank's balance sheet, the next temptation is to sell them off to vulture funds in tranches. We know the consequences of that. The Minister talks about the same conditions applying. Everybody who has dealt with people in the hands of vulture funds knows the consequences of having a loan transferred to one. Can the Minister confirm that the risk of such transfers is higher once loans become non-performing because borrowers have been made unemployed by the pandemic?

I was contacted by someone who told me that their monthly repayment has increased quite considerably because their loan is non-performing due to unemployment. This will have future consequences for them. It will mean an extra cost of about €10,000 over 20 years when compared to the effect of the previous arrangement, that is, the mortgage payment break. That is the difference between the original six-month arrangement and what the Minister has allowed to happen.

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