Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will try not to. This week and in the weeks ahead, many people will receive letters informing them that their loans with Ulster Bank, many of which are in arrears, have been transferred to Cerberus. Cerberus is a by-word for murky deals and money lost to the public purse. Project Eagle is an example of the massive discount given in the utmost secrecy. Many of these loans involve farmers and small businesses which have experienced difficulties during the financial crisis. No figure was released as to the discount at which the vulture fund bought the loans, and we will probably never know. Once again, we have no idea how much of a haircut the company received. In Britain, there was a parliamentary investigation into the sale of Northern Rock, totalling £13 billion. It failed to pass on reductions in interest rates to its customers.

Now that the Government talks about our recovery, it is deeply worrying that many people, who have attempted to recover, are at the mercy of ruthless vulture funds. We need more concrete action to help those in mortgage distress, and this can be done. It was up to my colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty to introduce a Bill last week to remove the Statute of Limitations regarding complaints against financial institutions. We in Sinn Féin are here to find the progress and solutions regardless of the Government's inaction on it. It would be worthwhile if we could have the Minister or Minister of State for Finance in the House in the near future to outline the Government's plans to protect mortgage holders from these vulture funds.