Grealish wants end to sell-off of loans

Galway West TD Noel Grealish (pictured right) has written to the Minister for Finance demanding that he put a stop to the planned sell-off of thousands of troubled home loans to ‘vulture funds’, by whatever means he has at his disposal.

“The state — and that means every person in the country — injected €2.7 billion into Permanent TSB to prevent it from going under during the financial crisis,” he said.

“They simply cannot be allowed to turn their backs on all of the families in financial difficulty who have impaired loans with them, now that things have improved in the economy,” he added.

The Independent TD said that some of these families got into trouble during the economic downturn but were now back on track – albeit with arrears they are still trying to repay.

“There is no doubt that a substantial number of those families will be turfed out of their homes to join the already shocking number of homeless once these foreign investors get hold of their mortgages,” he said.

“I have written to the Minister demanding that he put a stop to this by whatever means necessary — after all, PTSB is 75% State owned, so the people of this country must have some kind of a say in the matter.”

“The Government were quick to move in and bail out banks during the financial crisis and they need to act decisively to protect Irish people now,” added Deputy Grealish.