Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ag an uair mhall seo den oíche, ba mhaith liom cúpla focal a rá fá dtaobh den Bhile fíortheicniúil seo, atá á phlé ag an earnáil seo le tamall maith. Cuireann sé iontas orm go bhfuil an reachtaíocht seo istigh i gclár oibre an Rialtais - ní hamháin an Rialtas seo, ach an Rialtas a chuaigh thart fosta. Tá a fhios againn gur tháinig an Bille seo os comhair na Tithe seo in 2019, agus thug an Rialtas úr an Bille isteach arís i mbliana.

Caithfear a rá go bhfuil go leor conspóide fá dtaobh den reachtaíocht seo. Nuair a bhí an tAire Stáit ag cur an Bille seo fríd Tithe an Oireachtais, go háirithe sa Seanad, agus ag labhairt faoin gá leis an Bhille seo ó thaobh earnáil na funds, ní raibh aon Seanadóir - nó aon duine sa Teach seo, go bhfios dom - ar an eolas go raibh sé réidh leis an Oireachtas a fhágáil agus go raibh sé chun dul i mbun oibre do na funds céanna mar CEO. Cuireann sé imní orm go raibh Seanadóir, a bhí mar Aire Stáit trí mhí roimhe sin, ag caint ar an reachtaíocht seo mar Sheanadóir agus nár chuir sé in iúl d'aon duine go mbeadh sé ag obair ar son an earnáil seo taobh istigh de sheachtain. Sílim nach bhfuil sé sin ceart ná cóir. Tá rialacha faoi leith againn i ndlíthe na tíre seo le cosaint a dhéanamh orainn sa chomhthéacs sin.

As I said, this Bill has been a long time in the making and it is definitely a burning priority for this Government, and not just for this Government but also for the previous Government. Despite all the major social challenges we have faced in recent years, this is the Bill which has made it to the front of the queue, not only in respect of the last Government but also of this one. I apologise, because I obviously missed the large demonstrations and protests outside the front of Leinster House by the funds industry, its managers, spokespersons and lobbyists. I also obviously also missed the large petitions, letters to the newspapers and concerns which were expressed in this regard, as well as the other campaigns on this issue. Perhaps, then again, I did not miss much of that, because we know that the Minister of State who was sponsoring this Bill in the last Government, ended up becoming the chief lobbyist for the funds industry, which this Bill will benefit, within three months of leaving office. It is unfortunate that this Bill going through the House tonight has been caught up in that type of controversy. It was completely inappropriate for that to happen.

Having said that, and to reiterate, I refer the Minister again to the example of the Governor of the Central Bank writing to the Minister for Finance in 2015. In that letter, it was stated that insurance companies, and senior officials in those companies, had provided deliberate false information to the Central Bank, but that it was not in a position to hold those companies and officials responsible to account because there was a lacuna in the law at that time. The Governor of the Central Bank asked for that law to be fixed. Five years later, that issue has not got to the top of the queue, the lacuna still exists and insurance companies are still lying to the Central Bank, the Government and, indeed, to consumers. The funds industry, however, has clear access to the corridors of power and to the ears of those who need to be told what to do and the priorities they must have.

We raised several issues regarding this legislation when it was going through the Dáil in 2019. One of our key concerns was in respect of beneficial ownership. I acknowledge that that issue is being addressed in this legislation, and it is welcome that these provisions are now in place in the second incarnation of this legislation. I will not go through the history of this area, as I spoke on Second Stage regarding the background to the funds industry. We appreciate that this industry creates substantial employment in this State.

Some sections of this 2020 Bill contain more detailed provisions than the original 2019 Bill, most notably, as I said, in respect of beneficial ownership. The Bill extends anti-money laundering beneficial ownership requirements to investment limited partnerships and to common contractual funds, and that is something which we argued for at that time. Now that this Bill has been disposed of, perhaps some attention might be focused, some three years later, this very month I believe, on the request from the Central Bank that individual senior bankers be held to account through a senior executive accountability regime, a regime which has existed in Britain for many years. Three years later, that has still not got to the top of the legislative queue. It still has not got the priority which would cause the Government to legislate for it, despite the fact that during those three years which have passed, we have found out that nearly every bank which sold a tracker mortgage in this State was ripping off its customers and basically stealing money from their accounts through overcharging them in the interest rate which those banks were legally entitled to charge. The cost of that rip-off was €1 billion. It was the biggest theft in the history of the State. Some 99 family homes were lost, as well as many private buy-to-let homes. Great misery was caused to those families. I have spoken to many of them about issues of mental health and family and marital break-ups. All of that has been a part of the tracker mortgage story and the tracker mortgage scandal. Despite all of the misery which was caused, however, the legislation the Central Bank sought has still not even been published by the Government. Nobody has lost their job, nobody has been held to account and the Central Bank has still not been given the tools it requested three years ago to ensure that it could hold individual bankers to account.

I refer to bankers such as those in KBC. The Central Bank announced it was issuing one of its largest ever fines against KBC. Despite KBC being instructed by the Central Bank to stop the harm it was inflicting on its consumers, it became clear to us and the public that KBC had continued to inflict that harm all through the tracker mortgage examination. That was not all, however, because KBC also continued to repossess the family homes of people who should not have lost them in the first place. I will leave it at that. I reiterate that this Bill is a better reincarnation of the one that came before it. It is technical.

My major point, however, concerns the priorities of the Government. There are many burning issues which I would rather be discussing. The last point I will raise concerns legislation which I tabled two years this month. In fairness, the Minister, despite opposition from Fine Gael at that time, supported that legislation to reduce the rate which moneylenders could charge in this State. Legally, they are entitled to charge up to 187% of APR and nearly another 100% interest in respect of collection fees.

That needs to be dealt with. I am sure that the Minister, in his support for that legislation, will also support it as it goes through the committee process in the coming weeks and months.

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