John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

I support those who called for a debate on the financial services industry. I am conscious that previously we needed to regulate aspects such as redemption fees — in some cases couples who wanted to pay off a loan early were charged a six months' redemption fee — or the need to introduce an APR because the industry was hiding costs such as monthly or annual interest repayment charges which were costing the consumer more but were not presented as doing so.

We need this debate in light of current events, including the foreign exchange difficulties, the mis-selling of life policies to cover mortgages and the selling of non-resident accounts, for which the banks have a huge responsibility. They must shoulder the blame because those accounts were actively sold. Rather than people coming into the bank to look for them, the banks asked them if they would like to open a non-resident account. This must be examined in the context of the people who are now doing so well in the banking industry and earning such large sums. I do not begrudge them a cent of what they earn but they get large salaries, bonuses and preferential rates on loans-——