Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I mentioned in the House previously the banking inquiry that is taking place downstairs. It is going great. People from all over the world are coming before it to talk about what happened the banks, why it happened and what we should have done differently, but the banks are still doing what they have always done. They have reverted to type. They are not only throwing people out of their homes but they are also imprisoning them within their homes in so far as the people are subsisting and not actually living.

One has to pay now to go into a bank. One has to pay for cash and for one's cheque. One has no return on one's savings, and a crippling interest rate. I will forget about the case in Vico Road because that is a different situation; it is a more opulent situation. I am not arguing for that; they can argue for themselves. I am arguing for genuine workers and families in homes the mortgage on which they cannot afford to pay, or they cannot afford the mortgage the bank is demanding they pay back. Between crèche fees, food and life fees they cannot afford the mortgage. They are being put out of their homes every day of the week, and the banks continue to hike up the interest rates. That is very serious because downstairs this major banking inquiry is taking place, and still the banks are reverting to type.

Bank of Ireland announced a €900 million profit last week. I understand that a bank has to make a profit to fulfil its mandate but what will happen that €900 million? That profit is our money. It is our universal social charge and our interest hikes. I would like the Minister for Finance to come into this House and tell me the manners he is putting on the banks for the working people of Ireland.

I was in Tulsk last week and I saw what is happening rural Ireland, but one of the most important developments is that young couples had paid €160,000 for a semi-detached house in the middle of Tulsk, with no trees and very few amenities. The same houses next door were being sold for €49,000. The banks should be brought to heel over that and told they can wipe out the first €100,000 and let the people start paying at €49,000. Something must be done about that.

I received a letter from a woman, Cait O'Beirne, in Cork. There were 60 repossessions in the Cork Circuit Court. These have nothing to do with the house in Vico Road, which everybody is running to with cameras. There were 30 people in Cork Circuit Court and do the Senators know who they were? They were people representing the banks because the poor unfortunates were scared out of their wits and did not have the bottle to attend. They did not know what to do, and they did not have the language of the banking repossessions. I have had enough of that. I ask that the Minister come into the House and tell me exactly what manners he is putting on the banks that all of us have mortgages in because we are running to feed ourselves and pay all the bills. Can I have an answer to that question immediately? This is about the fifth time I have asked for that.