Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom tagairt a dhéanamh d'alt a bhí sa Daily Mailinné ag Brenda Power. I take this opportunity to convey my abhorrence at this article concerning the Traveller community. It was totally ill-informed, inaccurate and biased, and possibly bordering on racist. Many people are very offended by what was written and I hope the relevant authorities will deal with it in a timely manner. A statement should go out from the Seanad that this type of journalism is not acceptable in Ireland.
I am disappointed that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, has indicated his satisfaction that the banks are meeting the Central Bank's mortgage arrears resolution targets. My colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, put it to the Minister yesterday that the banks are only meeting those targets through wholesale legal actions, but the Minister did not change his tune. At yesterday's meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, Ulster Bank representatives defended their use of legal proceedings in more than 4,000 cases, which make up almost half of that bank's proposals under the targets set by the Minister and the Central Bank. Ulster Bank knows it can get away with this because of the Minister's Pontius Pilate attitude. I expect the other three banks will tell the same tale today and Thursday, notwithstanding the latest data which show that six years into the crisis and excluding legal threats, the banks have made a sustainable offer to only one third of mortgage holders in distress. These data are coming from the banks themselves.
The Minister has stated on numerous occasions that he does not accept that legal action constitutes a sustainable solution and that he has communicated this assertion to the banks. The reality, however, is that he is hiding behind the Central Bank. The latter accepts the banks' figures and the inclusion of legal letters and the removal of people from their homes as sustainable solutions. That is simply not good enough. It is not acceptable for the Minister to hide behind the Central Bank in the midst of a mortgage arrears crisis. He should be leading the way, not hiding behind the Central Bank or civil servants. Will the Leader agree to a debate on this issue in the near future?