Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

We are all aware this is a leap year and Sunday was 29 February. One can imagine the surprise of many people with mortgages when they received a notification from at least one bank, which had the courtesy to notify them, that as mortgage interest is charged on a daily basis they were being charged for 29 February. All the other banks and mortgage societies did exactly the same. Every year we read of the massive profits banks make. From the point of view of public relations and given that it happens only once every four years, it is surprising they could not make one small gesture to their mortgage account holders. It is disgraceful. I appreciate it is a small amount for the people involved but from the point of view of the banks, it mirrors the lack of respect which many people have for financial institutions.