Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I mentioned earlier that we had a number of people before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. James Byrne and Grainne Quinn were present and both had their mortgage loans sold by Permanent TSB to a vulture fund. James is now being charged an interest rate of 7.25%. He is waiting for another letter in the post to inform him of the most recent hike and is paying €8,000 more in interest than he was last year. He told the committee that there is no discretionary spending in his household. There are no family holidays and every penny is counted. Grainne is now being charged an interest rate of 7.5%. Her household costs have increased by €800 per month, which is nearly €10,000 per year. She has three young children. James and Grainne's cases are not unique. It is the situation of tens of thousands of households whose mortgages were sold to vulture funds without their consent. That is the reality they face and the Minister's party, as well as Fine Gael, supported this. The Taoiseach claimed that households would be no worse off when their mortgages were sold to vulture funds. How wrong he is. What an untruth he told. I ask the Minister again whether he believes there is a moral responsibility on the originating banks, the likes of Permanent TSB, AIB, and Bank of Ireland, to create a pathway for those loans to come away from the vulture funds and back into mainstream lending.

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