EU asked to probe if banks had ‘cartel’

Former junior finance minister Brian Hayes has asked the EU to investigate if Irish banks operated a “cartel” in the tracker mortgage scandal and if they collaborated in ripping off thousands of customers.

The Fine Gael MEP has also asked the ECB if offending banks will be fined and whether the whole controversy threatens the stability of the banking sector here.

It comes as the Dáil heard further calls yesterday for gardaí to intervene and investigate how thousands of borrowers were wrongly moved off low-cost loans.