Seanad debates

Thursday, 12 June 2003

Interest Rates Reduction: Statements.

 

I now come to the actual villain of the piece. The ECB made the cut which everyone was expecting. As the Minister of State said, this is a small open economy and any twist or turn in these matters improves or disimproves the situation to a large extent, more so than in the case of large countries. We depend very much on these fluctuations. Who gave the banks and financial houses the authority to say it was not in their competency to pass on to consumers the benefit of the interest rate cut? No one gave them that authority. I am aware they serve their boards of directors with escalating profits each year. I am not jealous of them – I do not want to sound as if I am looking for these millions, not a bit of it. However, they cannot say they are failing their boards of directors or shareholders. They certainly are not, rather they are giving them huge value for their investment, which is good to see in a market. It is obscene of them and irregular in the proper meaning of the word not to pass on what has been given and say they will keep it. This is the consumers' money.

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