Sinn Féin's Dáil motion on trackers to be discussed this Tuesday at 8 pm

He spoke but didn't really move far from the script to be honest, no dates and really no more actual rigid enforcement towards the Central Bank so we move along again. The other speakers were excellent however and I agree have certainly given us some hope
 
Seems to be consensus from everyone there. It will be interesting to see what the bill will look like if it's passed.
 
The high trackers were discussed by several speakers. It's still going on. Pearse Doherty speaking again at the moment.
 
Exactly. Brilliant by Pearse Doherty
And Michael McGrath.

But Noonan just going through motions. Spouting usual crap that central bank has already said.

I believe fine Gael has contributed to the problem. In particular I hold Noonan responsible.
 
Doherty and McGrath earning serious points in my book for their work on this. They actually seem to be emotionally involved. They have obviously heard some heartbreaking stories generated by this scandal.
 
Amazing to see someone in that position, just reading from a script, my 5 year old could could have done better. Don't think he looked up once, is that good enough, our minister for finance. But agreed Doherty/McGrath were excellent, brilliant to see all TD's united on this one. It ain't over till the fat lady sings. Feeling hopeful.
 
Anybody able to summarise what happened. I didn't hear it on the radio and unless I'm mistaking it no article in the newspapers either.
 
I missed the first hour. I was there from 9 pm to close of the debate at 9.45 pm.

The only visitors present were users Lightening, Say Something and Mr. Say Something.

It appears that everyone who spoke supported the spirit of the motion.
Pearse Doherty and Michael McGrath made excellent speeches at the start. From experience, they are both all over these mortgage issues and articulate them very well.

I watched some rubbish speeches in my short time there:
Some guy on the Independents benches, don't know who he was.
Eamon Ryan of the Green Party - absolute meaningless waffle - more on that later.
One of the Healy Rays " De banks squeeeeled to the Revenue Commissioners on some farmers who had non-resident accounts and now dey are taking their tractors from dem."

Noonan left shortly after I came. Minister Kyne(?) read the response from the government side. Explained in some detail about the fine imposed on Springboard mortgages and what a good job the Central Bank was doing.

Pearse responded. I found the Donegal Irish very hard to follow. But I gathered that there was widespread tacaíocht for the motion. The government appears to have tabled an amendment but only on two minor points. Pearse asked them to withdraw the amendment and they refused.

Therefore it will go to a vote on Thursday morning - all the rest of the TDs having gone home.

Brendan
 
The disagreement I think is whether to attribute blame to the central bank.

The government does not want to.

Could that be because the central bank has been doing the government bidding?
 
Was great to meet you briefly yesterday @Brendan Burgess and @Lightening
I missed the first approx 20 mins. Just a couple of points.

Minister Noonan: Read from script. Was practically in a trance for most of the debate (this is normal for him in the chambers I believe). Very little deviated from the written speech, if at all. It doesn't give me much hope that the Government will take it into hand.

Michael McGrath: Excellent, really excellent. I think the fact that he emphasised the lack of timeframe and deadlines imposed by the Central Bank is very important. He made the point that even if the bill/motion (i'm still unclear which it was) doesn't pass he would urge the Minister to investigate this. He was constantly taking notes and gave real examples of the issues. Left before the end of the debate but was quite engaged.

In general: Quite a few of the TD's used the debate as a springboard for wider issues surrounding the banks and economy which took away from the matter at hand. Richard Boyd Barrett went off on a complete tangent. Eamon Ryan and one of the Healy Ray's as well. Completely irrelevant. Spoke volumes. It's clear that they don't have a grasp of the issue. If they were my TD's I'd be quite mad with them and writing a letter post haste!

The thing is if your TD/Senators don't understand the tracker issue then they cannot represent on your behalf in the Dail, nor can they communicate on behalf of the affected customers. If members take anything from last night I'd recommend you write to your local representatives explaining your circumstances and why the lack of action by the relevant authorities is causing you hardship.

I missed Pearse Doherty's last speech as I was dashing for transport home but I'll catch it on playback now and translate as best I can.

@mister32 As I understand it, the difficulty with attributing blame to the Central Bank is that they technically are no higher power for banks. If they are found to be at fault then it's a Government issue. Giving rise to 2 questions. 1. Who oversees the Central Bank (the answer here is the Government)? 2. How can the Central Bank be investigated (a tribunal costing a lot of money I suspect)?

ETA:
Here are the MP4 links to the debates last night for anybody interested in watching themselves (while I root out my Irish dictionary).

First Hour:

Second Hour:
 
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Pearse Doherty's speech - roughly translated from Irish (VERY ROUGHLY!)

Thank you Minister Noonan for your response and input and thank you to the TD's who participated in the debate and your comments.

One of the things that is clear tonight from this debate is that there is great support from everybody, from every party, for the people who have been affected by this tracker issue and suffered greatly. The difference that we have here is how can we start/progress from here, bearing in mind that there have been amendments suggested by the Government and by Mr McGrath. And the thing I take from Mr McGrath's amendment is that we should be making our voice (the dail's) heard on this for the vote on Thursday.

I listened to what Minister Noonan had to say in relation to this and I appreciate that he said that he supports the sentiment behind the motion that Sinn Féin have put forward tonight. So I think we should look at this and not be splitting hairs over which motion is more correct. Because I think that the most important thing is that we take this seriously, and that this can't be allowed to continue, and that things be put right.

He then moves over to English from minute 37.
 
I missed the first hour. I was there from 9 pm to close of the debate at 9.45 pm.

The only visitors present were users Lightening, Say Something and Mr. Say Something.

It appears that everyone who spoke supported the spirit of the motion.
Pearse Doherty and Michael McGrath made excellent speeches at the start. From experience, they are both all over these mortgage issues and articulate them very well.

I watched some rubbish speeches in my short time there:
Some guy on the Independents benches, don't know who he was.
Eamon Ryan of the Green Party - absolute meaningless waffle - more on that later.
One of the Healy Rays " De banks squeeeeled to the Revenue Commissioners on some farmers who had non-resident accounts and now dey are taking their tractors from dem."

Noonan left shortly after I came. Minister Kyne(?) read the response from the government side. Explained in some detail about the fine imposed on Springboard mortgages and what a good job the Central Bank was doing.

Pearse responded. I found the Donegal Irish very hard to follow. But I gathered that there was widespread tacaíocht for the motion. The government appears to have tabled an amendment but only on two minor points. Pearse asked them to withdraw the amendment and they refused.

Therefore it will go to a vote on Thursday morning - all the rest of the TDs having gone home.

Brendan

Brendan

Easy on the poor Framers!!!!!
 
Michael McGrath voiced concern about the behaviour of the central bank and maybe it's not equipped to represent customers.

After the crash central bank was focussed on the prudential /stability side of monitoring the banks.

Protecting customers is a totally opposite role.

The central bank has been found wanting in this regard.

They have agreed the governor will report quarterly to the Oireachtas finance committee.

That's a good thing.
 
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