Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely, Chair, and I thank you.

To clarify, the vulture fund epidemic in west Cork needs to be addressed. The funds have moved into town and are appointing receivers on a weekly basis on to properties. They are also suppressing information. We are dealing with a scenario where when it comes to legal documentation, these funds will only provide limited information, which means that clients must go to the High Court to get documentation regarding the loans they have taken out. The clients will not get this documentation from the vulture funds themselves. These funds are refusing offers without any explanation as to why nor are the clients being informed as to why this is so.

The other issue is that in one case, the vulture fund agreed an offer and then moved on from that offer when the client came up with the money, and it would not agree to the figure when the money was made available.

We have significant issues here and I am very concerned about where this is going to go. There has been an activity in the marketplace in the past six to eight months where the view taken is that these funds will come into town and will liquidate properties, hotels, farms and shops. The Central Bank needs to step in because engagement is not there. There is no engagement and it is an active policy of the funds not to talk to their clients. The frustration within communities is beyond belief.

There is also a knock-on fear because interest rates have gone up in the past few months and we are now genuinely concerned about where unfortunate people are who may be under pressure in the future. Will AIB do the exact same thing it has done previously? Will it move more loans onto vulture funds, which will create the exact same issue, where the vulture funds will not deal with the client and will liquidate their properties?

The Central Bank needs to step in. It has ultimate power and regulation and it is the broker in this game. The Central Bank needs to come into town to ensure regulations are put in place to ensure that this issue is dealt with.

We need to have public interest directors brought back into play. We had public interest directors - the Chair knows this well - on bank boards previously. They need to come back because without the public interest directors, the banking system will operate like the wild west.