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: