IT’S NOT ENOUGH
Tds say donohoe let banks off in mortgage scandal
FINANCE Minister Paschal Donohoe was under fire last night for his failure to punish the banks for the tracker mortgages scandal.
The Government announced it will haul the bosses of the five big lenders into the Department of Finance this week for a dressing down which the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had teed up as “an admonishment”.
While Mr Donohoe last night called the actions of the Bank of Ireland, AIB, Permanent TSB, Ulster Bank and KBC a disgrace, there were no sanctions and nobody had been punished or held to account in the banks.
Speaking in the Dail last night Fianna Fail finance spokesman Michael Mcgrath said: “The Government’s response is not adequate.
“Bankers will sleep tonight, but those whose lives have been devastated will not sleep well tonight - the living nightmare continues.”
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said: “Apologies, statements, policies are just not enough.
“The banks can’t be trusted and we need criminal prosecutions against those who were responsible for this.” Sinn Fein’s Pearse Doherty, was particularly critical of Ulster Bank which said it won’t finish its compensation scheme until the end of June next year.
He said: “For 2,500 Ulster Bank customers who were told that money was wrongly taken off them, 2,500 of them, some of them who will have to wait eight months, and the minister thinks that is an appropriate admonishment for the banks.”
Earlier, in a move described as “synchronised swimming” by mortgage arrears campaigner David Hall, Mr Donohoe gave his position on the scandal, while the banks all issued similar statements within minutes of each other.
Mr Donohoe said: “Let me be very clear - the Government believes the behaviour of the banking sector in relation to tracker mortgages was disgraceful. This is a scandal.
“It should never have happened and the Government is determined to ensure that it should be resolved.”
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform statement outlined the banks would identify and compensate customers at varying dates up to the end of June next year, with no sanctions or punishment for now.
Up to 30,000 customers could eventually be identified as being swindled and up to 100 people have lost their homes.
A Dail committee heard some customers’ health has been
damaged.