Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy Dara Murphy is very welcome to the House. I am puzzled as to why he is not in the Department of Finance himself. He is responsible for European affairs and data protection. I would have believed that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, or his Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris, who are responsible for this legislation, would have been here. That they are not is no reflection on Minister of State Deputy Dara Murphy, who does a good job and is more than welcome here. However, I would have believed that if the legislation is as important as stated and if, as stated, the Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan, looks forward to a good, constructive and forthright debate on the Bill, he or his deputy, Minister of State Deputy Simon Harris, would have come to the House to hear it.

This is not great legislation. It is important but it is drastically watered down by comparison to what we expected. I would oppose it on Second Stage only that I have a series of amendments prepared for Committee Stage. The Bill is deficient and watered down. The watering down is akin to the watering down of the code of conduct on mortgage arrears that the Minister of State referred to in this statement, which is obviously prepared by the Department of Finance. The Bill will not achieve what is required.

When mortgage books are sold, it is a big issue for those concerned. The mortgage holders will not be afforded the protection required based on the way this legislation is framed because the owner of the loan books, which could be a vulture fund that is not administering the mortgages, will not be covered by it. If vulture fund ABC plc from the USA bought a loan book here but did not administer the mortgages, it would not be covered by the Central Bank or this legislation, as drafted. It is mentioned in the statement prepared by the Department of Finance and read here this afternoon by the Minister of State that the Department of Finance consulted widely, there were concerns within the industry that what I suggest would be too complex, and that this is why the changes have been made. I believe the changes have been made because the financial institutions and those who purchase loan books did not want the legislation to be as strong as it should be. I could be wrong about this but it is more than likely the reason.