John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that this Bill is before the House and that I will have the opportunity to address issues within it on Committee Stage. The Bill is long overdue. We witnessed a massive financial crash from which we are still recovering. That still has consequences for individuals in this State, particularly those trying to raise a mortgage and paying high interest rates. While this will hold bankers to account, at least that is what the short note said, I hope it does. What steps will the Minister take in regard to this Bill to include vulture funds? They have wreaked havoc throughout the country. They continue to do so. They are the arm of the mainstream banking system that provides the muscle necessary to allow the banks to get some money out of the process by selling the loans to vulture funds. It then allows vulture funds to appoint receivers and again to ride roughshod over the rights of individuals, families and small businesses. If the Bill does not go to that extent to protect those who find themselves in the hands of vulture funds, then we are not doing the banking system any good.

We are not addressing the issues of accountability and transparency in the banking system. The vulture funds refuse to come before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. That has been the case this term and last term. As we demand accountability and ask them to appear, they just turn a blind eye to us and continue on with the devastation they are causing. Time and again in this House, I and many other Members have raised this issue and asked for the matter to be addressed. We were told by various politicians in the past that these vulture funds are necessary and are good for the economy. Let me make it clear that I have not come across any activity of a vulture fund that would lead me to believe that they are good for the economy, particularly the Irish economy or Irish society. While they may help to address the bank balances and the positions within each bank, they do not do any good for society or families that are affected by them.

What section in this Bill deals comprehensively with vulture funds? What section puts the onus and an obligation on them to appear before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach? If that matter is not addressed in the Bill, perhaps on Committee State or Report Stage we will see a change emerge in that regard.

It is also clear from what is going on with the banks currently that they are almost back to treating customers in the same way that they treated them in the past. The tracker mortgage issue is an example of the outrageous behaviour of banks. The Central Bank imposed fines on the banks that were found guilty of not treating tracker mortgage holders properly. It is said that those fines were significant, but they were not. In each of those cases, they were reduced by 30%. I want the Central Bank to be able to impose a fine that does not represent nickels and dimes to the bank in question but that it is a really substantial sanction for the bank and that there is some mechanism whereby we can show that the bank cannot pass the sanction on to its customers in fees and charges. That has to be examined, and the Central Bank has to have a significant role in policing it.

I would also like to see that when a bank is fined and when it is stated that there was significant poor practice in the bank, the Central Bank can outline clearly what it found in its investigations. Not enough is said about the investigations. Not enough information is given on the outcome of those investigations. Until such time as this House is prepared to pass legislation insisting on that and on naming and shaming the individuals concerned in the bank, we will continue to have bad practice in banks. I have looked at the boards of directors in different banks. They have not changed substantially since 2008. There have been no moves by the banks to ensure that, from a public perspective, it would be seen that they and their boards have changed. A decision had to have been made somewhere in the banks regarding tracker mortgages. That is a fact. A decision had to be made about various investment funds that went wrong, about tied agents that were involved with banks and are now being treated badly.

All of this is part and parcel of a banking culture that was the biggest aspect of the cause of the crash in 2008. The political response has been weak. It has taken too long to come to this in regard to holding individuals to account. Will the Minister of State ensure that not only the regular banks are caught in these regulations but that the vulture funds are made to answer to the committees of this House in the context of the regulations and legislation we put in place?

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