Speaking at the Banking and Payments Federation, the deputy governor of the Central Bank, Mr. Ed Sibley, said that Irish bankers were displaying echoes of pre-crisis arrogance. My view is that it never left them and I am glad that the penny is dropping in the Central Bank.

He went on to say the banks were hitting mortgage holders with double the interest rates needed for them to make a profit, that they were charging new customers between 2% and 3%, while in some cases existing and loyal customers were being charged almost double these rates, at 4.5%. It is complete discrimination. He spoke about how the Central Bank must push the banks to be customer-centred in the process of solving problems with mortgage arrears and selling to vulture funds, etc. I note that a former Minister of State and the Tánaiste's old colleague, former Deputy Brian Hayes, completely disputes this, but his new job is to defend the interests of the banks as opposed to those of consumers.

The Deputy's time is up.

As the Government is a major shareholder in three banks, what will it do to ensure the arrogance mentioned by the deputy governor can be knocked on the head and that banks will treat customers fairly when it comes to mortgage interest rates?

That is the role of the Central Bank and if there is an issue, it must act to deal with it.

That is not an answer. The Government is the major shareholder.

Deputy Howlin is next.

As Deputy Pearse Doherty knows, the Government does not run the banks.

It should do so. Nationalise the lot of them.

Please, Deputies.