Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 5, to delete lines 8 to 19.

I welcome the Bill, which will contribute to the solution to address the scourge of vulture funds. However, it is only part of the picture. Even this part of the picture may be incomplete if we fail to undo the provision inserted by Fianna Fáil in the Dáil. Fianna Fáil has chosen to exclude securitisation vehicles from the scope of the Bill. Either we are regulating all owners of credit or we are not. We all know why this is an issue and we have seen it in the case of Permanent TSB and Glenbeigh. The State-owned bank is selling the mortgages of over 6,000 people who are meeting their restructuring arrangements. However, we do not know to whom. We could not get to the bottom of this at the finance committee. We do not know who is behind Glenbeigh, who benefits from it or anything else. It is a structure established in recent weeks but the Bill, as amended by the Dáil, will not regulate its owner at all. The Bill will not regulate the likes of Glenbeigh. While Pepper will be regulated, as is already the case, the owners, whoever they are, will remain unregulated. We should close this regulation gap, not open another. The Minister and Fianna Fáil state that passive securitisation may still take place but I wonder how passive it feels for the 6,000 families doing their best to pay what has been agreed. I continue to receive correspondence from people who have been paying their mortgages but who were suddenly given written notice that their mortgages had been handed over to Pepper. The key question is whether the Minister believes Glenbeigh will be regulated if we accept the Bill as it stands. If it will not be regulated, why is that the case?

In 2015, Sinn Féin proposed amendments which would have regulated the owners of the credit. Fine Gael and the Labour Party opposed the amendments in question. We are now back here over three years later and I want to ensure we do not have to return again. The Glenbeigh deal represents a new low for Irish banks but it is also a new phenomenon to which we must respond. Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 address the same issue which is to ensure all owners of credit, whoever they are and wherever they are, are regulated. One should not be allowed to own mortgages in Ireland if one is not regulated regardless of what tax efficient structure is used. That is what the amendments set out to achieve albeit it may well be that even if they are made, Glenbeigh will still be excluded. It is not clear when the prospectus was signed off but it was dated 29 November 2018.Deputy Michael McGrath removed securitisation vehicles from the scope in July, so one would imagine it was taken into account. I do not discount the possibility that even further deeper amendments are required to capture the owners of all mortgages. The real test should be perhaps the economic interest, that is, who benefits from it. If one is making money out of Irish mortgages, they should be regulated. That is the bottom line. I want to see this Bill doing that.