Mattie McGrath: Calls for tougher bank laws to fix housing
Mattie McGrath spoke on 8 July 2020 about what he described as the failures of Irish banks and regulators to support borrowers and housing during the Covid crisis. He urged urgent banking legislation and stronger regulators to stop overcharging, loan refusals and pulled approvals that block families from building homes.
Banks criticised
McGrath said the banks "are just not functioning in Ireland" and accused them of arrogance, overcharging, refusing loans and pulling approvals for families seeking to build their own houses. He argued this behaviour is blocking efforts to get people housed during the Covid crisis.
Regulation and legislation concerns
He echoed calls for a clearer separation of the regulator from the central bank, referencing David Nocton’s remarks, and said there is very little effective banking legislation. McGrath said banks currently have a "free range" to act as they please and called for real banking legislation and real regulators rather than "toothless" authorities.
Political and PR critique
McGrath noted that a former member of the house, a former MEP, now works as a PR spin doctor for the banks and criticised successive governments, including one he said Deputy Kelly administered, for allowing banks to continue unchecked.
Impact on landlords and housing policy
He warned against demonising all landlords, distinguishing good or accidental landlords who own one or two houses, and said those people are needed in the market. He also said issues like the fair deal should be examined, but insisted that banks must be tackled first to allow mortgages, regeneration and housing supply to move forward.
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I too want to support this motion here this evening and indeed with a discussion last night and the new minister here who I have great faith in, I hope he's listening because the banks really, you know what I mean, they're just not functioning in Ireland and that's crucial to, that's across the range of, that's crucial to anybody getting a loan or getting, you know, some reprieve at these present times of Covid and to think that they are so arrogant that they would try now and get away with overcharging and refusal of loans and pulling of actually approvals for loans to families to build their own houses. How are we, in this, in this Covid crisis, how are we ever going to get our people housed? David Nocton spoke there about the regulator and the washcloth being separated from the central bank. We need banking legislation for a stop. As far as I can ascertain, there's very, very little banking legislation. There's legislation to affect all of us and to deal with all of us in many, many aspects and more have been pushed and extended and amended and in these statutory instruments. But the banks have a free range to do what they like and they are doing what they like and we have a former member of this house now, a former MEP, as now their PR spin doctor. It just goes on and goes on and beg us to believe how successive governments, the last number of governments, including one that Deputy Kelly was administering, just allowed the banks to do what they want to do, full stop. So it's time that we've got real legislation and we've got real regulators, not just toothless people that are there and don't engage and don't support the people because there are many landlords out there who are good landlords, who are accidental landlords, who are just one or two houses. And I'm not going to allow all landlords to be described and demonised as bad people. We need those good people in the market, but we need to deal with the banks because they are not functioning at all at all and they need to be functioning to allow these people to can harm themselves, that can repay mortgages and they can regenerate houses and pass on their houses as well. And of course the fair deal needs to be looked at as well. So there's a lot of issues here, but the banks must be tackled in the first instance. Thank you very much.
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