Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise an issue relating to tracker mortgages. We had a big debacle in recent years with regard to tracker mortgages and how unfairly people on tracker mortgages were treated by the banks. In all, more than 40,000 people were badly treated by banks over a number of years in the context of tracker mortgages.

Some time ago, a number of borrowers brought a case against Ulster Bank. The Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman made an independent decision in respect of those tracker mortgages. Two borrowers brought cases to the FSPO after they failed to be included in the tracker mortgage examination – an industry-wide probe by the Central Bank into 40,000 cases of mishandling and overcharging of tracker customers across the banks. After the financial services ombudsman issued its decision upholding the complaints, Ulster Bank appealed the decision to the High Court. In June of last year the court found against the bank, saying that it found no evidence of any error or any significant error of law in the decision made by the financial services ombudsman. The judge said the ombudsman's decision to uphold the complaints was valid and the bank’s conduct was contrary to its contractual obligations and its obligations under the consumer protection code. The bank appealed to the Court of Appeal, which reversed the decision that was made by the High Court and the independent decision that was made by the financial services ombudsman.I am calling on the financial services ombudsman to make a statement regarding the decision made by the Court of Appeal, given that he made an independent decision himself, which was upheld by the High Court. The very least the financial services ombudsman could do for the people who brought those cases is to make some sort of an assessment of it and make a statement on it. I call on the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman to make a statement regarding the High Court decision, which was nearly two months ago.