A Co Cavan Councillor has brought a motion to Cavan County Council in relation to the Tracker Mortgage scandal.
Cllr Shane P O’Reilly called on the Central Bank to give concrete confirmation of the fail safe measures and procedures that they have in place that no such scandal could ever happen again.
Tracker mortgages became unprofitable for banks after 2011 when the European Central Bank interest rates fell close to 0%. Cllr O’Reilly said that we need to hear that would never ever happen again, adding that so many people including people in this region lost their family homes due to no fault of their own.
His motion that was passed will now allow the local authority write to the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Expenditure and the Central Bank to hear of these safe guards that would protect homeowners going forward. In March 2021, Ulster Bank paid the highest fine, a record €37.8 million. KBC Bank Ireland was fined €18.3 million in Sept 2020.
In May 2019, Permanent TSB was handed a €21 million fine for breaches that impacted on more than 2,000 of its customers as part of the wider tracker mortgage scandal. Cllr TP O’Reilly who seconded the motion said the skulduggery that went on was a disgrace and the whole process around Tracker Mortgages can only be described as an absolute scandal.
