Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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253. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will liaise with the Central Bank to ensure that appropriate legislation is brought forward in order to compel vulture funds upon acquiring loan books from financial institutions to inform mortgage holders of the price paid for each loan and in the alternative the mortgage holder would be given a period of time to purchase or discharge the loan for the amount proposed to be paid for same by the vulture fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15892/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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There is no agreement on the precise meaning of the term “vulture funds” and it has come to have pejorative connotations. I presume that the Deputy intends referring to private equity funds.

As the Deputy may be aware, the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) (Amendment) Bill 2018 was introduced by Deputy Michael McGrath on 21 February 2018. The Bill subsequently passed Second Stage in the Dáil on 06 March.

The Government has agreed to support the Bill and provide assistance to Deputy McGrath to develop appropriate amendments to the Bill so that it can be implemented.

It should be noted that there are a number of technical issues with the Bill which need to be resolved. My officials are engaging with the Attorney General’s Office, the Central Bank and Fianna Fáil in this regard. It is important that absolute clarity is reached about the detailed intentions of the legislation in order to assist in accurately drafting the legislation.