‘An absolute scandal’ – Kilkenny TD John McGuinness hits out at banks’ ‘disgusting’ behaviour
OUTSPOKEN Kilkenny TD John McGuinness has launched a blistering attack on the “disgusting” behaviour of some banks in the Dáil.
The Fianna Fáil deputy didn’t hold back during the second reading of Sinn Féin’s No Consent, No Sale Bill in the Dáil last night.
Deputy McGuiness said he knew of families in mortgage arrears who are being forced to wait up to 10 years to have their cases dealt with.
“That family have to sit with their children, go through the trauma and allow the next generation of younger people to see what it is like to be treated in that way by a bank and a Government that does not care,” he said.
“We are not just ruining the lives of the parents but also those of the children. As we condone the actions of the banks, we are educating the next generation of bankers to be just as disgusting as this lot.”
Under the provisions of the Bill, lenders and banks may not transfer or sell mortgages on residential properties to a vulture fund without the consent of the borrower.
Deputy McGuinness also heavily criticised last week’s announcement that debt cases are being removed from the Master of the High Court, Edmund Honohan, under a direction by the President of the High Court Peter Kelly.
Mr Honohan wrote the Affordable Housing and Fair Mortgage Bill that was introduced to the Dail last year by Deputy McGuinness (pictured above at the time).
Deputy McGuinness said: “Now I understand fully the separation of powers and I take all that but I have to say that the last port of call for thousands of families over the last number of years was the Master’s court – where he checked the paperwork from banks, and indeed from borrowers, and where he forced the banks to correct the paperwork, or to acknowledge that their paperwork wasn’t adequate enough to press the charge against the individual before the court.
“Most of these individuals, lay litigants by the way. And having done that and having done this state a hell of a service and has stood by – fair to the banks, fair to the borrowers, creating a level playing field, he has now been removed from that task by the President of the High Court.
“And I would say it’s an absolute scandal.”
