I would like all Members, Ministers and Deputies to observe and keep an eye on the time because we are depriving others at a later stage. I call Deputy Brendan Howlin.

The Leas-Cheann Comhairle knows I am always disciplined on time.

The Deputy is, yes.

The tracker mortgage scandal has now affected 13,000 customers, with that number expected to rise. A total of 102 houses and apartments were repossessed as a fallout from the scandal. A total of 23 of these were family homes and a further 79 were buy-to-let properties. Put simply, 23 families were put out of their homes as a result of what can only reasonably be described as malpractice on the part of the banks. As the Central Bank has made clear, only 25% of those have received redress or compensation.

The Central Bank wants all banks to start their compensation programmes at the end of the year. Only three banks have even done anything to date. This problem started with PTSB, but it is now clear there was a sector-wide approach across the banks that disadvantaged mortgage holders. The Central Bank says it has no choice but to move slowly on this issue, but that is clearly not good enough when we see the level of real harm done to families. It is not good enough for the thousands of families who have been ripped off to the tune of thousands of euro, and it is certainly not good enough for those who have been put out of their homes.

We now know that two banks are being pursued by the Central Bank for ongoing failure to identify customers caught up in the scandal. In the name of public accountability, will the Taoiseach write to the Central Bank and make the names of these banks public? The Central Bank has said that legislation giving it power to compel banks to give a certain level of compensation can only be applied in cases occurring after August 2013. We know some of these cases go back to 2008. Has the Taoiseach considered amending legislation to require all banks to pay a set level of compensation where they have ignored contractual obligations to mortgage holders? Will the Taoiseach give us a definitive timeline as to when all impacted customers - and some as I have said were grievously impacted - will be identified, when the ongoing harm to them, their families and their well-being will be stopped, and when all affected customers can be expected to be given proper redress and compensation?

The Government believes the behaviour of the banks in regard to removing people from tracker mortgages was scandalous. We also believe the banks have been dragging their feet in solving this problem at a real human cost. Some people have lost their homes. Others have lost investment properties. Aside from the financial cost, there is, of course, the impact on people's mental health and well-being. It is our view that people affected should have had their tracker mortgages restored and should have been fully compensated by now. As a Government, we have lost patience. Consequently, the Minister for Finance has arranged to meet the CEOs of the main banks, Bank of Ireland, AIB, Ulster Bank, PTSB and KBC, on Monday and Wednesday next week, and he will admonish them for their conduct on behalf of the Government.

Three years on.

He will also seek a detailed explanation from the banks as to why the process has been so slow and their plans for resolving it quickly.

While the Central Bank is fully independent as a regulator, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is also contacting the Central Bank to ensure it has sufficient powers and resources to ensure the banks resolve this problem. The Government will take further action if we do not see further progress much more quickly, whether this is through enhanced powers for the Central Bank or increased taxation imposed on the banks by the Government. It is very much in the interests of the banks, their shareholders, management and staff to fix this situation and to do so quickly.

The Central Bank yesterday published its latest update on its industry-wide examination of tracker mortgages, which was commenced in 2015. Approximately 13,000 impacted accounts have been identified by lenders as of the end of September, an increase of 3,100 since the March report. The Central Bank is currently pursuing enforcement investigations on tracker mortgage-related issues arising in Permanent TSB and Ulster Bank Ireland, and two further enforcement investigations into other lenders are now in train. It is anticipated that more enforcement investigations will follow.

The Central Bank is not making the names of the two lenders known while the process is ongoing. As a result of the Central Bank's challenges, the two lenders are reconsidering certain outcomes of their reviews and are due to revert to the Central Bank by the end of October. If the Central Bank is not satisfied with the response from those two lenders by the end of October, at that point the Central Bank will name those two lenders. As of the end of September, lenders had rectified the interest rates applied to approximately 98% of the customers who were affected, so in 98% of cases people are now back on the interest rate they were supposed to be on. However, redress has been much slower and the initial proposals fall short of the Central Bank's expectations. So far, only 3,300 account-holder homeowners have received redress and compensation, and the Central Bank now expects that all lenders must have commenced providing redress and compensation by the end of this calendar year.

More than two years have now passed since the courts found that PTSB had mismanaged a mortgage. More than two years have passed since the Central Bank began its enforcement investigation, yet only a quarter of those affected have received any redress. I do not think that is acceptable and I do not think the House believes it is acceptable.

I do not understand why the two banks concerned cannot be named here. That would be a start in the process. It is imperative that we set out a clear timeframe for compensating all affected customers and, in so far as it is possible, righting a terrible wrong that was done to them. We talked about other issues in terms of needing to have a clear timeline in which to have things done. In this case, banks have clearly abused their own customers. In my judgment, the activity of the banks, which have really benefited from the extraordinary support and benevolence of the taxpayers of this State, is a gross act of betrayal. Does the Taoiseach agree with me that we now need a clear timeline as to when all affected customers will be fully compensated for their losses?

As the Deputy will appreciate, I cannot speak on behalf of the Central Bank. It is independent. It is very important, given the office I hold, that I respect that. The Central Bank said to me in the briefings I have been given that it wants to give the two lenders concerned a little more time to get their act together. It is indicating that it is expecting a reply from the two lenders by the end of October, which is only a few weeks away. I expect, or suspect, that if the Central Bank remains dissatisfied after that, we will know the names of the two financial institutions.

I absolutely agree with Deputy Howlin that we need a clear timeline for compensation and redress. As the Deputy knows, 98% of people are already back on the interest rate they should have been on in the first place, but really only between one quarter and one third of people have been compensated. The Central Bank is expecting redress and insisting that it be under way in all cases by the end of the year. There may be difficulties in individual cases, as is often the case, but we certainly expect to see the vast majority of people receiving redress before the end of the year.

It is important to point out the law has been changed in this regard. It was changed under the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013. That is legislation that was brought in under the previous Government, the Fine Gael-Labour Government. Unfortunately, most of the activity in question took place prior to the introduction of that legislation, and legislation is not retrospective in Ireland. To a certain extent, the people here are very much victims of the light-touch regulation that existed prior to 2013.