Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----as I was entitled to. I am very disappointed.

Another disappointment is we do not have the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, here today. This is one of the most serious issues facing us. We are already in a housing crisis. The Government is inviting a whole lot of trouble if it allows Permanent TSB to go ahead with its proposals to sell 20,000 mortgages to unregulated vulture funds. This cannot happen for a variety of reasons. It is unfair for people who have restructured their mortgages and tried to pay what they owe to be put at the mercy of a fund that could decide to evict them. We are not living in reality here. Who is running the country? Is it the banks or the Government? These families will be left powerless and at the mercy of court proceedings because proposals to regulate vulture funds were shot down. If these vulture funds swoop in on these families, they can sell those houses and put the families onto the street. As the Minister of State knows, we have a housing crisis. Vulture funds are investment companies that pick the bones of the living. Vulture funds need to be regulated the same way as the banks. They need the same standards and transparency and most importantly to pay taxes on their huge profits. I have a massive issue with that. It is something the Minister of State needs to address.

Vulture fund companies need to allow county councils and other Government agencies access to information on properties purchased through stressed loan acquisitions. I will refer to the property I spoke about this morning. I am aware of a property in Carlow which was purchased as part of a portfolio. The property was sold by Permanent TSB to a vulture fund. The property was wanted by a Carlow resident who grew up in the property. When he finally tracked down the last owner he was told that Permanent TSB sold all the loans to a vulture fund. He approached Permanent TSB and stated his interest in the property and asked for a name and contact number for the company. The reply was they do not give out that information. As a result, there is a derelict house.

This is a recent example although I have more. It is causing huge anti-social behaviour and problems. It is now damaged beyond repair. The council had to secure the house to prevent any more damage and stop anti-social behaviour. I do not know if the council is insured to go into a vulture fund house and board it up but that is what is happening.

The Government is not seeing the reality on the ground. The sad part is that if the prospective buyer had been given information on the vulture fund that purchased the property, all of this could have been avoided and the property could have changed hands before it was ruined and, more importantly, a family could be living in a home today. That is what we need. I believe this story happens in every county.

I can give the Minister of State six or seven cases in my county. It is happening all over Ireland. Without the information from the vulture funds we will never know the true extent of the number of houses in the ownership of these vulture companies. I call on the Minister of State to establish the number of properties that vulture funds have taken over in Ireland. There seems to be no rules for how these vulture companies do their business. They are allowed to trade unregulated. They have no concern for the lives they destroy.

I ask the Minister to stop it and to regulate and tax these companies. Most of all, I ask him to make them furnish a list of all properties acquired by them to each local authority so if we want information we can go and find out how to sort out this problem. Permanent TSB has a duty to look after these mortgage holders. Many have tried but they get no feedback. They make phone calls and Permanent TSB does not want to listen to them or deal with them. The Minister of State has a duty to sort it out.