Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The no-show on the part of the vulture funds before the finance committee is clearly a snub to the Oireachtas. We have to ask what they have got to hide. Five vulture funds were invited to appear before the finance committee to engage with members on a range of issues raised by us concerning their operation in Ireland. The invitations were extended to Pepper Asset Servicing, Lone Star Funds, Cerberus, CarVal and Mars Capital. Each has refused to appear before the committee and has effectively told us to mind our own business.

Naturally, the committee members wish to raise questions with these companies about how they treat customers whose distressed loans they have bought. There are thousands of Irish homes and businesses whose future lies in their hands. These large companies, which are effectively carpetbaggers, are in here to make a quick buck and are often devoid of any apparent social or moral compass to direct their operations. One such company sought to commit a distressed borrower to jail for refusing to leave their property. Another ignored the protection of a personal insolvency arrangement provided to a distressed borrower, and sought to move against his property.

What are these companies afraid of and why will they not come before the Oireachtas and outline how they operate and the protection they afford to customers? Their failure to appear leads me to believe that they have something to hide or to be ashamed of. I suspect that we may need to consider a more in-depth review of the operations of vulture funds in Ireland. At the very least, we should seek to oblige these people to co-operate with rather than stonewall the national Parliament of a sovereign State. I will be taking the matter up with the Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan, and my colleagues on the finance committee.

On the matter raised by Senator Norris, I can identify with much of what he says because I too received a letter from "RTE Investigates" stating that I, like Senator Norris, had breached the Standards in Public Office and Ethics Acts, the whole lot, by being the director of a firm. They said I had not declared it. Of course, they were totally wrong. I am neither a shareholder nor a director of the company they named. I might not have been quite as shaken as the good Senator opposite but I did ring the man from whom I received the letter. He wanted something in writing but when he heard what I had to say, I think he accepted it.