Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the sale of the Irish Nationwide Building Society, INBS, loan book, which has been raised in the House on a number of occasions. I attended yesterday's meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform expecting to be reassured by the special liquidator and Department of Finance officials that those with INBS loans would be protected when the loan book is sold. All the bidders will not be subject to regulation by the Central Bank. I was shocked to discover that the commitment given that the code of conduct on mortgage arrears would be adhered to by prospective bidders would not form a legal condition of the contract for sale, which means it will not be binding. That is an unacceptable flaw. The second flaw is that even if that condition had been incorporated into the contract, there is nothing to protect mortgage holders from a further sale of the loan book, either in its entirely or as individual loans.