Dáil Éireann Debate, Friday - 7 September 2018
124. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Finance if the issue of the 200 employees of a bank (details supplied) who have been excluded from its tracker mortgage examination will be raised at his meetings with the banks and financial institutions; if these borrowers can avail of staff tracker rates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36048/18]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware that, following my meetings with each of the banks last October, I stated publicly the Government’s view that the banks’ behaviour in relation to tracker mortgages was disgraceful and that the Government was determined to ensure that the matter was resolved. In addition, I conveyed the Government’s full support for the Central Bank’s actions to drive a resolution in the interests of consumers in the context of its Tracker Mortgage Examination.
At the same time, as part of follow-up actions, I announced that I had requested the Governor of the Central Bank to provide me with a progress report by mid-December on whether the banks had made acceptable and sufficient progress in line with commitments they had given to resolve the matter. I duly received such a report and, in my statement of 20th December last, noted that the Central Bank concluded that the banks had made sufficient progress in meeting the targets they agreed to in October. In addition, I received a second progress report in April which gives further assurance in this regard.
The Central Bank’s work is ongoing with a view to completing its Tracker Mortgage Examination and, accordingly, it would not be appropriate for me to engage with any bank on an individual tracker related matter. The Central Bank has confirmed that a final report will be issued on completion of the Examination.
In relation the Deputy’s question as to whether or not affected borrowers can avail of tracker rates, this is a matter for the bank to determine taking into account a number of factors including the terms and conditions of the mortgage contract, current bank policy on staff lending, and the bank’s existing suite of product offerings.
