Tracker mortgage fraud by the banks is a huge scandal which requires criminal investigation. These are the same banks that we, the public, bailed out to the tune of billions of euro. Some 17,000 mortgages have been found to be affected thus far and there are more than 2 million accounts being queried and examined. This has the potential to be a €500 million scandal. Mortgage holders have been over-charged to the tune of €20,000 to €30,000. All 15 lenders are involved, including Allied Irish Bank and Permanent TSB which we, the State, own. Two of the 15 lenders have confirmed that 15 families have lost their homes and a further 14 are facing repossessions. As we have details from only two banks, this is likely to be only the tip of the iceberg. Most, if not all, of the houses repossessed have been repossessed by the original lenders, the banks which did the damage originally.

According to a statement made by the Governor of the Central Bank, Mr. Lane, there is a systemic and widespread aspect to the tracker scandal. He has said, "Underneath it all ... this is a cultural issue which is interpreting contracts in favour of the lender and not in favour of the customer". He has further stated that he could not rule out the hypothesis of collusion between some lenders. In view of those statements and this scandal will the Taoiseach ensure that free, professional legal and financial advice is made available to the mortgage holders affected? Will he give an assurance that the banks will be instructed to stop insisting that hard pressed families sign away their legal rights in order to access any degree of compensation and that any such signature already provided by defrauded borrowers will be rendered null and avoid? Will he also, through the Minister for Justice and Equality, ask the Garda fraud squad to call in the chief executives of the banks concerned for questioning with a view to prosecution for fraud?

I note the comments by the Governor in respect of the tracker mortgages, including that consideration be given to follow through in regard to some of the activities that have gone on in this area. Nobody wants to see people lose their homes. The number of mortgages in distress has fallen substantially from what it was a number of years ago because of the various options put in place by Government at different times to help different categories of mortgage holders under pressure and cases in distress. A number of people have voluntarily given up their homes and others have availed of the services of MABS and other elements of support that have been provided by Government and the line Department. The allegation of illegal activities in respect of tracker mortgages will be followed-through.

Deputy Healy will be aware that any person who has a difficulty with his or her mortgage is eligible for assistance in terms of financial and legal advice and to have representation made available to him or her to negotiate directly with the lenders in these cases.

Unfortunately, in some cases there have not been any consultations or conversations between lenders and borrowers. At the end of the day, these things always have to be sorted out through some mediation facility. The Government has made a range of such facilities available. I hope people continue to avail of them. We would like to see as many of these cases as possible sorted out so that people can continue to live in their own homes.

We are not talking about mortgage distress, as such. We are talking about illegality on the part of the banks leading to mortgage distress and, in many cases, to the repossession of family homes and borrowers losing their properties. We learned from the banking inquiry that the culture permeating the banks was also endemic in the Central Bank and the Department of Finance. There is no guarantee that existing regulations will be implemented by any branch of the financial elites. The Government's task is to prevent fraud and, when fraud takes place, to prosecute those responsible. It is possible that the delay in ordering a Garda fraud investigation into this matter has already led to the destruction or alteration of relevant records with a view to blaming subordinates. Will the Taoiseach order an immediate criminal investigation to prevent any further cover-ups in this regard? Will he sack the highly paid public interest directors and Government nominees on the boards of these banks who failed to bring this matter to the attention of the Legislature?

As the Deputy is aware, it is not for me to order criminal investigations. Where illegal activities are proven to have taken place, the full force of the criminal law is behind those who have illegal acts perpetrated against them. In other words, the criminal law will rightly apply in all cases where illegal activity has taken place.