Results 14,181-14,200 of 26,042 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: I welcome Professor Lane and his colleagues. I want to return to last November when the Central Bank lifted the limit on first-time buyers. If I am correct, prior to that there had been a limit of €220,000 which had been brought in by Professor Lane's predecessor, the loans had to be 90% and for any balance above that there had to be 80%. In November, Professor Lane came along and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: Why did Professor Lane go for such an expansive measure? There is now a situation where a person could buy a €1 million home and they could be regarded as a first-time buyer. I am being slightly facetious, but take someone in Dublin looking to buy a €400,000 first-time home and they can look for a loan of 90%. Surely by lifting a complete limit that would effectively add to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: Surely that would have been a reasonable proposition.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: I am asking a question. We suddenly had a measure in place by the Central Bank. It was put in place by the predecessor of Mr. Lane. It was a €220,000 limit for first-time buyer with a 90% loan. It was draconian in nature and particularly impacted those in Dublin, more so than outside Dublin. Suddenly, the Central Bank took away any limit. The Central Bank left the loan limit at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: Why are house prices going up?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: What do we do until such a time as supply catches up? There is a major problem with supply. Does the Governor not see his role as ensuring control in the market until such time as that happens? Is the role of the Governor not to ensure that the price of first-time buyer houses, ordinary three-bedroom semi-detached houses, does not go out of control prior to that point?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: What does Professor Lane regard as a reasonable zone?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: Let us assume a low interest rate environment continues and that everything is pretty constant barring a rise in the price of houses. At what rate of increase in house prices over the next number of months would the Governor say that we need to change the rules on mortgage lending to ensure the price of houses does not go out of control for the first-time buyer?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: Professor Lane has said that if the price of houses were to change materially over the year he would go in and effectively change the rules to correct the market. We cannot operate in a vacuum where it is let go for eight months and absolutely nothing is done. The question I am asking is, at what point is there is a material change? Professor Lane is a renowned economist, he understands...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: Is Professor Lane saying that are no circumstances between now and November under which he would change the mortgage rules to ensure the price of housing does not go out of control? If we see a 7%, 8%, 9% or 10% increase in the price of houses on a monthly or bimonthly basis between now and November, is Professor Lane saying that, as Governor, he will not do anything about that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: Does that mean he will not do anything between now and November?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: The Governor said last November that if there was a material change in prices that he would go in and make the necessary changes in the rules to ensure the price of houses would not go out of control. He is now telling me something different and that he will do nothing until November.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: No, that is not what he said last November.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: It is not. He said that he would act if there was a material change in the price of houses. The ordinary person looking in here, who is looking to buy their first home, could possibly be alarmed because they are being told that, regardless of the way the price of houses goes between now and November, the Central Bank, through its Governor, will do absolutely nothing in respect of mortgage...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: I never said anything about month-by-month. Really, the response I have gotten from the Governor is that he will be doing nothing between now and November. I ask him to pay careful heed because we got into this mess in the Celtic tiger period when the price of houses spiralled out of control and we suddenly had a situation where people were taking out loans, which I know had much higher...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: A number of people have raised condition 3.1 with me. It concerns situations where, if someone is offered a tracker mortgage but elects to go on a fixed rate and the fixed rate changes between the letter of offer and when the loan is drawn down, they are entitled to go back to take the tracker rate. Has that come onto the Central Bank's radar?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: When does the Central Bank expect the current process to be full and final? The witnesses mentioned the conclusion of phase two by September.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: One of the requirements of the review is that lenders must have a customer helpline. A lot of these helplines use scripted conversations which do not provide enough assistance to customers. Is there any detail about what help must be given to customers?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: Reference was made to the legal framework. Are the guidelines for banks which the Central Bank has published in the public domain?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 Apr 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: Did each bank design its own scheme? Are there examples where banks have different schemes?