The Minister will know that, as we speak, the finance committee is hearing from the Central Bank on the issues relating to tracker mortgages. Everybody will agree that the way the banks have treated those on tracker mortgages is abominable, to say the least. Despite the Taoiseach's sudden interest in this issue, it did not just happen today or yesterday but has happened for many, many years. The last-minute attempts by the Government to threaten banks to fix it or face a levy will allow the banks and the Central Bank to get away with it without anybody being held accountable. This scandal has happened on a continuous basis over many years. Even after it was exposed and the banks were told to recompense customers, they slithered and slid away from what they were supposed to do legally, financially and morally.

Since 2015 the Central Bank has conducted an industry-wide examination of tracker mortgage-related issues, including where banks wrongly denied customers their contractual right to return to a tracker rate of interest following a period on a fixed rate. In February this year, eight months ago, the Central Bank confirmed that the total number of affected customers covered by this probe stood at a minimum of 13,000. Some of them told their tale before the committee last week. I do not know if the Minister has had a chance to hear it but it would stop him in his tracks to listen to the impact this has had on people's health, on that of their families, on their household incomes and on their ability to live their lives.

Banks have caused enough stress in this country. They brought the country to its knees and, given that experience, they should have woken up to their corporate responsibilities, their social responsibilities and their moral responsibilities. Alas it seems, from the manner in which they are handling this issue, they have not. One customer was being overcharged on their mortgage for over four years. In May 2016 they were put on the correct rate by the bank but, 17 months on, the customer is still to be repaid the €20,000 that was overcharged and the bank has yet to make an offer of redress or compensation.

Given the severity of this and the impact it has had on families and homes, why is the Central Bank being so soft and relaxed on banks, particularly the State-owned banks? Why have the banks not been given an absolute deadline by which overcharged customers are to be repaid and compensated? Can the Minister confirm whether the Government has any legislative plans for increased levies on banks as a result of this issue? I am sure every party in this House will support an increased levy. If there are any such plans, when will the legislation be introduced?

In the view of the Government, any failures by the banks should be ruthlessly pursued. We have no truck with behaviour that brings people to the state of frustration and dismay we have seen. The Taoiseach was very clear yesterday that any powers the Central Bank needs will be provided and that the Government will not be afraid to take other measures, including enhancing the bank levy which is set to raise €750 million between now and 2021. The Minister for Finance will call in the banks and will address the issues the Deputy has raised. The Government takes this matter extremely seriously.

Everybody hates someone who stands up in the Dáil and says "I told you so" but when I was my party's spokesman on finance in 2004, when the Fianna Fáil Government introduced the Central Bank Bill, I said very clearly that it was a defective Bill. It lacked the teeth for prudential regulation and consumer protection but that was the legislation that prevailed for much of the time this happened. There are limitations in some of the current legislative machinery but the Government will not tolerate banks failing in their obligations to their customers and to those people who have been particularly affected by the tracker mortgage issue.

The Deputy is right to say that, given the appalling trauma in our economy and our society caused by bad bank lending and poor regulation, there is now an absolute obligation on banks to fulfil their responsibilities to their clients. The Central Bank and the Government should and will take this very seriously.

The Minister said the Government would have no truck with this behaviour but we have known about it since 2015 and banks have dragged their feet and dragged people's lives through the muck since that time. The Minister has been in Cabinet since 2011 so if the legislation was defective and weak he has had six and a half years to fix it, but he has not. There seems to be no plan to do it, although there is a vague promise on the matter. Today's Irish Independent features one customer, Garreth Murphy. The decision on his tracker mortgage is costing him an extra €500 per month, an extraordinary amount of money, but no remedy is being put on the table for him. His is one of nearly 20,000 similar accounts. At last week's committee meeting, one gentleman spoke of how he suffered a stroke and his wife suffered a nervous breakdown directly as a result of the stress caused to them. We cannot stand by and make false promises on this issue.

Can the Minister outline the legislative framework? The Taoiseach told us yesterday that the Minister for Finance would meet the banks next week to admonish them over their behaviour. What did he mean by "admonish"? The people affected do not need tea and sympathy but action, compensation and, most important, justice.

The Central Bank has been very clear that the proposals made by the banks are totally inadequate and it has initiated enforcement investigations over some of the behaviour of individual banks. It has made clear that it is engaging with other statutory bodies, including the Garda Síochána, so there is no flinching from pursuing this. Some of the failures occurred before the legislation giving new powers to the Central Bank came in and some of the defects were in the old legislation to which I referred.

The Government will take any steps necessary, legally or by giving the Central Bank additional powers, but one cannot provide powers retrospectively as regards some of these events. The Minister for Finance will be very clear as to the expectations of Government as regards bank behaviour.