David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the release of Ibrahim Halawa. I also support my colleague on the Fianna Fáil benches who suggested that His Holiness Pope Francis should be invited to address the joint Houses of the Oireachtas. I say this as the person who initiated the invitation, and got the invitation unanimously through both House and the Committee on Procedure.

With regard to the banks and tracker mortgages, I have to laugh when I hear Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael squealing about it now. Where were they when I tabled a motion condemning the Bank of Ireland for unilaterally, at the instigation of the state of Israel, closing down the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign's bank account? It neutered it and it has gone nowhere. Since then I have discovered that the same bank, namely, the Bank of Ireland, has unilaterally, at the instigation of a foreign power, closed down the bank account of a diplomatic mission accredited legally to this country. Where are we going? To whom are these people accountable?

I listened to and watched them as they came out smugly from Government Buildings. Where do they come from? There was an English person, an Australian person and a Dutch person. 1916 how are you. We are being ruled from the colonies. It is absolutely laughable.

The chief executives of these companies should be in jail. They are robbers. They are thieves. They have engaged in an exercise of mass theft against the people of Ireland who rescued their bloody banks when their improvidence brought them to their knees. Some time ago I listened to a Minister say, "At least nobody died." Of course they did. People were driven to such harassment that they took their own lives. They became seriously ill. They lost their homes. They lost their families. How could this go on for ten years? It is unspeakable.

The question of looking after individuals should be taken away immediately from the useless, pusillanimous Central Bank which has shown itself to be toothless and useless.They have a clear conflict of interest. They have been looking after the welfare of the banks and citizens. Its power should be taken away and given to an independent group to specifically look after the welfare and rights of the citizens.