Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I would like to make a few brief points. As the Minister knows, Sinn Féin, like the other parties in the House, is supporting this legislation. I will refer briefly to some of our reservations, which have already been articulated by my colleagues in the Dáil. Other Senators have mentioned the two reasons for the introduction of the Bill. I will not go over them again. Obviously, I welcome and fully support the provisions relating to Greece, particularly in light of everything that has happened in that country in recent years. We stand in solidarity with the ordinary people of Greece who have suffered greatly. We welcome the introduction of any measure that will benefit them.

The potential sale of loans is the main issue I would like to raise with the Minister. I am aware that Deputy Pearse Doherty raised it with him in the Dáil. Senator Paul Coghlan mentioned the upcoming legislation in this context. I would like to raise some concerns in this regard. We fully support the need for greater competition in the lending market. We support any move that will make space for a new fully regulated entity to enter the market and provide competition. As has been articulated, the fear is that we could end up with some kind of disaster whereby loans could potentially be sold off to unregulated vulture funds, which is what happened in the case of the IBRC. I accept that it is much less likely in this case. I hope it does not come to pass. The amendments that were tabled by Sinn Féin during the Dáil debate on this Bill with the intention of making it 100% iron-clad certain that this loan book does not end up with the vultures were rejected.

It has been mentioned that the Government is preparing legislation to make sure the situation cannot be repeated. I seek an update on the matter. When is it expected to publish and enact the legislation? The reason I ask is that there is a potential gap between when this Bill is passed and the other Bill comes into force. There is no reason we cannot bridge the gap by amending the Bill to make the sale of the loan book 100% safe. Having stated our reservation, my party is content to support the Bill in the hope that it will benefit the Greek people and allow for greater competition to the benefit of consumers in the mortgage market.