# Brendan's comments about grandstanding by the Oireachtas Finance Committee



## TrackerThieves (30 May 2018)

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debate...enditure_and_reform_and_taoiseach/2018-05-17/
Here is a link to the debate.



On 2 separate notes i do believe you were extremely harsh saying that they didn't ask tough questions in relation the 4 that appeared before the finance committee. Secondly saying the vulture funds wouldn't come before the finance committee because of the grandstanding or the questions they would put to them was complete nonsense. If they have met with department of finance 65 times but repeatedly refuse to come before the finance committee
 its simply because they are unregulated and answerable to nobody.


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## Brendan Burgess (30 May 2018)

Hi TT


This ties in to the grandstanding issue. The politicians just want to make public points. They did not do any analysis.

These 4 people came along and asserted "My life was ruined because I lost my tracker unfairly". And the politicians said "That was a disgrace. The banks are thieves"

As I pointed out, they needed to ,but did not ask

1) Under what circumstances did you lose your tracker?   What is your case and what is the bank's counter-argument?
2) How much did you lose as a result?  Was it a material amount?
3) Why was it so much?  And this is the big point which I did not make at the time. They did not lose out because they lost their tracker. They lost out because they were put on the highest standard variable rate in Europe.
4) What other things happened in your life at the time?

I know two of the cases well. The previous day I had been at the AIB AGM with Helen Grogan arguing the unfairness of her case.
It was I who asked the Committee to meet Niamh Byrne as she had the best of all the cases.

As the questions were not asked, I can't say much about the other two cases, but I understand that they were ptsb 3.25% cases, so their actual losses were not that significant.  I have campaigned hard against high SVRs and the ptsb SVR in particular. 

By the way, I did not bring up these cases.  One of the Senators brought it up to show how good their questioning was.  And it was a great example of how bad their questioning was. They got great publicity which was good for the tracker cause, but it threw no light on the issue.  And that is why the vulture funds won't appear at the Oireachtas Finance Committee.

Brendan


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## Purple (1 Jun 2018)

Being asked questions by people who don't want to listen to your answer and/or won't understand it can be frustrating.
I think the point is worth making again that when a Vulture Fund buys your mortgage the terms of the contract you signed with the original lender doesn't change.


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