Sir, – It is disgraceful that Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe would sign off on this sale of over 10,000 mortgages to Start Mortgages, a subsidiary of Lone Star, which has a horrendous record in taking aggressive action to evict people.
After the financial crash, the people of this country bailed out these banks to the tune of tens of billions. For this, the public get the Minister for Finance not only failing to use his 75 per cent share in the bank to protect these vulnerable mortgage holders, but he is effectively gifting the wolf the keys to the front door. The Minister should block this sale as he has a duty to protect these vulnerable mortgage holders, many of whom are families.
It is also utterly scandalous that the very entities that the Minister will be gifting these mortgages to pay little or no tax in this country due to tax arrangements put in place in 2013 by his predecessor, Michael Noonan, who effectively invited these vulture funds in the first place. At every turn, Fine Gael has facilitated and championed the interests of greedy and profit-driven vulture funds at the expense of mortgage holders and those affected by the housing crisis. – Yours, etc,
RICHARD BOYD
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BARRETT TD,
Leinster House, Dublin 2.
Sir, – Desmond FitzGerald writes (August 2nd) that the only reason non-performing loans aren’t dealt with is because “behind closed doors the vested interests that don’t want it to happen get face-time with the decision-makers to a degree no bank customer would”.
One assumes that these bank customers who are so desirous of face-time with their lender do not include the 2,500 "not cooperating" borrowers who, we are told in your report, have failed to engage with the bank since entering arrears (News, August 2nd).
We need someone to speak for the taxpayer and for the performing borrowers who are subsidising those who have decided that a State-owned bank is a soft touch and that there is no good reason why they should pay their debts or even engage when they choose not to pay. – Yours, etc,
PAT O’BRIEN,
Rathmines, Dublin 6.