Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. For many customers who are with the non-bank sector at the moment, there is a way back in terms of switching. Many of those customers are fully repaying their mortgages. Those are no longer non-performing loans and those customers should be in a position to switch their loans back to a main retail lender. Many of the loans were sold because they were in distress. Others were sold because the lender left the Irish market. The main retail banks in Ireland should be actively welcoming back those customers whose mortgage loans are no longer in distress.

The Deputy is correct, however, that there are people paying interest rates of 6% or 7%. In some cases, that is because there is a split mortgage with a high interest rate attached to the active part while no interest rate may be currently applying to the warehoused element. That is why it is important we get all of the data. I receive the same emails as the Deputy. They are helpful to know what is happening on the ground. I am engaging directly with the Central Bank on the issue. My officials are engaging with the wider sector to identify the nature of the issues here and what we can do to help.

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