Banks must act on tracker mortgages to help customers and themselves

WHO remembers the stated reasons for putting the bank guarantee in place and then, subsequently, to give the Irish-owned banks €64bn in additional capital to cover their losses?

It was all so that we could have “a properly functioning banking system”. What does that mean? It was supposed to mean that there would be money coming out of the “hole-in-the-wall” machines when people put their cards in. That people’s cheques would be honoured. That people could get loans to buy houses, cars and holidays, to pay education fees and other things that are too large to pay at home and get paid back over time. That businesses would get overdrafts to tide them over while they waited to be paid, to allow them to buy stock. That they would get loans for larger investments that could not be made out of profits or savings.

Some of the obvious things have continued “as normal” but overall it hasn’t worked out too well, has it? We have had too many bangs for €64bn of our bucks.