The debate that is currently taking place in respect of the sale by Permanent TSB of Project Glas, comprising loans relating to 14,000 family homes and 4,000 rental accommodation units, is false. I have been a strong advocate of the regulation of vulture funds. Indeed, the Minister, when he was Minister of State at the Department of Finance, dealt with the 2015 legislation proposed by Sinn Féin in the context of the regulation of vulture funds. I introduced legislation last year to regulate these funds but we need to be clear regarding what that would and would not do. If any party wants to support our legislation, fine. If a party wants to introduce its own legislation to bring about the desired end, we will support it without question.

We need to insert a little honesty into the debate. Regulation of vulture funds will not stop the threat of repossession. The only thing currently stopping the regulated banks from repossessing properties en masse is the potential impact on the long-term return on their investments and the effect on their reputations as companies operating in communities in which they are looking for business. That is not how vulture funds operate. They are only interested in short-term turnaround and quick profit. These funds, regardless of whether they are regulated, have no interest in reaching solutions with homeowners and no interest in restructured loans or interest only payments. There is no incentive for them to behave as members of society. They are not bound by the same sense of community. They are ruthless and, therefore, the sale of Permanent TSB loans to vulture funds puts 14,000 families and 4,000 renters in an extremely vulnerable position. There is no doubt that if it proceeds, there will be large scale repossessions, regulated or not.

The impression is now being given publicly that by simply regulating these funds, mortgage holders will have some magical protection that they do not currently have. That has made the situation even worse because it has created a pathway for banks which heretofore would not have sold to vulture funds to do so. The impression now is that if these funds are regulated, it is okay to sell to them. That is simply not the case. The Government can do something about this. Families and renters are watching these proceedings and hoping and praying that the Government will stand up to the vulture funds and stop this sale. If we are honest about this then stopping the sale is the only way to prevent mass repossessions. The Taoiseach said it would be illegal to direct the banks not to sell loans. That is fair enough but it is not illegal for the Minister for Finance or, indeed, the Government to inform the Permanent TSB of the position of its major shareholder, namely, the Government. Indeed, that is not even unprecedented. On previous occasions, the Minister for Finance brought in representatives from the banks in respect of the tracker mortgage scandal and high interest rates and outlined the Government's position. The Government is refusing to do that in the context of this matter.

Does the Minister accept that simply regulating vulture funds will not provide additional protections to the 14,000 mortgage holders and 4,000 renters if their loans are sold to such funds? If he does accept that, will the Government, and the Minister for Finance in particular, call in the banks to tell them what Sinn Féin has been asking them to do for the past number of years, namely, not to sell long-term products such as mortgages on family homes to vulture funds that only have a short-term interest?

I thank the Deputy. I accept his bona fides on this. He has raised this issue for many years. As a Government, an Oireachtas and, indeed, a country, we have to work our way through two issues. The first of these is how to protect mortgage holders and the second is how to ensure that we have a functioning, stable banking system, not for the banks but for citizens who need access to mortgages and credit for their farms or small business or who need to put money on deposit and know they will get a decent interest rate. How do we work our way through those two issues? I am conscious that many mortgage holders are worried and concerned. Taking out a mortgage to buy a home is the biggest financial commitment a person will ever make and to think that there could be uncertainty or lack of assurance over that can only give rise to concern. Like the Deputy, the Government is eager to work with everybody in the House to find a way forward and to work out how we can provide maximum certainty, clarity and assurance to mortgage holders while we continue to minimise repossessions. Many Members talked about mass repossessions only being around the corner, but, thankfully, that never came to pass. They also said that mortgage arrears would continue to increase but these have fallen quarter on quarter for many years.

The Minister for Finance said yesterday - and it is the appropriate and prudent thing to do - that he has asked the Central Bank to provide further advice and guidance to him on the current legislation and regulation and indicate whether there is any need to improve or enhance that. He went further and said that he is willing to work with the Opposition. He had a constructive meeting yesterday with the Fianna Fáil spokesperson on finance and a Bill will be introduced by our colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Kevin "Boxer" Moran. The Deputy also has suggestions. There is time because these loans have not been sold. They have not gone on the market and the Minister for Finance has not yet been consulted. There will be time to engage on the matter in this House and there will be time for the Minister to be consulted by the bank.

We also have to be truthful with people, however. We have to acknowledge the fact that we have a bank which, despite the recovering economy and the fact that we are almost at full employment, has on its loan book one of the highest ratios of non-performing loans in the eurozone. We also have to acknowledge the fact that when Members interfered with or ignored regulatory advice regarding the banks in the past, the Irish people bore the heavy consequences and deep scars of that and they still do to this day. Mortgage arrears are falling and home repossessions have been kept to an absolute minimum. There is time to work our way through this and to achieve a balance between the two aims we need to achieve for our citizens, namely, to protect mortgage holders and provide them with certainty and assurance and grapple with ensuring that this bank, which employs more than 2,000 people and has more than €17 billion on deposit, is stable and complies with regulatory advice. We are, therefore, eager to engage. No one has a monopoly on good ideas and, certainly, no one has a monopoly on compassion or concern for mortgage holders. The Government will work with all parties to find a way forward. As the Minister for Finance said, there is time to do that.

The Minister said that we have time. At my request, we have invited Permanent TSB representatives to appear before the finance committee on Tuesday next. Deputy Michael McGrath made a similar request. Permanent TSB representatives have told us that they have entered into confidentiality clauses with prospective buyers. The train has left the station. These are vulture funds and the problem is that the perception is that by simply regulating them, everything will be okay. It will not be okay because the code of conduct on mortgage arrears, which contains a suite of options, is completely voluntary in nature. Vulture funds do not offer those options. They do not do split mortgages, interest-only payments or arrears capitalisation. A total of 84% of the more than 120,000 restructures that have been done so far have not involved these funds. I want to see the regulation of vulture funds. I want them, and not the middleman, to be punished if they break the law. Primarily, I want to ensure that the 14,000 mortgage holders and 4,000 renters will not be thrown to the wolves.

If we are honest in this debate, and the Government and Fianna Fáil know and we in Sinn Féin know, it is not simply a question of the regulation of the vulture funds. If long-term products are sold to companies that have a three or five-year interest, it will only end one way, in repossessions. People will be evicted and there will be more homelessness. We cannot stand here as legislators and pretend that there is some type of magic solution. There is a solution: the Government owns 75% of the bank. The Minister should lift the phone and tell Jeremy Masding that the Government refuses to stand idly by while he is about to throw his customers to the wolves, just because the bank did not get its act in order over the past three years and work down those mortgages in the way it should have done.

I think Permanent TSB should go before an Oireachtas committee. It is time to see a little bit of humility from the banks, which the taxpayers have supported through very difficult times. They could do an awful lot worse than show a bit of humility and engage with the people's representatives. That should happen. It is a matter for the bank but that is my personal view.

Equally, however, Deputy Pearse Doherty needs to be truthful with people who are watching today, who are worried about their mortgages, who are working day and night to pay their mortgages. When he tells them "the train has left the station" that is simply false. The train has not left the station. The loans have not gone on the market.

The vendor has the confidentiality agreement-----

There has been no decision on who to sell them to. The Minister for Finance has not been consulted. Deputy Pearse Doherty should get on board the train that is in the station now. It is the one that will work with the Government and the other Opposition parties to let us find a way through this that recognises we need to have stable, functioning banks for our citizens and to protect our homeowners. The Deputy should please not scare people.

The Government is scaring them by allowing this. That is a cheap shot.

His is the party that-----

Only the Government can do that through the regulation it enforces.

If the Minister was strangled by a mortgage in distress he would be scared.

The bailiffs are scaring them.

The Deputy should not scare people because there are parties in this House that told people throughout the most difficult and darkest years of our history that their homes would be repossessed, that a second bailout would be needed, that we should go the way of Greece, that is, that we should send the troika home and that it should take its money. It seems some parties in this House might have changed their leader but not their policies.