If Leo is angry at banks, let him force their hand

IT IS a very long time since Charles Darwin came to the conclusion that much of the misery of the hardpressed was caused “not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions”. At the weekend, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar castigated the banks for foot-dragging over their failure to meet their clear obligations to homeowners who lost out so disastrously over the removal of their tracker mortgages.

Yesterday, Mr Varadkar returned to the theme, once more decrying the fact that it was taking them far too long to return homeowners to the better value home loans that were wrongly taken from them, with such terrible and even tragic consequences.

It could hardly be more straight-forward. These people were over-charged and merit compensation.

Even so, the banks, which were themselves bailed out at such enormous cost, are still being recalcitrant in meeting their responsibilities.

The country was rightly disturbed to learn of the personal toll losing these preferential rates had on people.

It has now emerged that some 12,500 account holders have yet to be restored and have refunds paid.

Mr Varadkar appears to be as incensed as the rest of us over these completely inexcusable and unjust delays.

But unlike the rest of us, Mr Varadkar is the leader of the Government and can and must exert his influence to bring an end to this scandal.