I raise the issue of loans being sold on to vulture funds and the hardship it is causing people in Ireland. People and businesses in Ireland take out loans every day. There is also a practice whereby loans are sold on to vulture funds every day. They are restructured and sold on without any communication with the customers. Citizens are left completely exposed to these piranhas of the financial world. These people need protection from us and the State, especially in instances where people are offering to pay twice the amount that the loan was sold for in the first place. People have nowhere to go for advice or protection. I am asking the State to step in and protect the citizens of Ireland from these scurrilous vulture funds.

I thank the Deputy. I know the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, has taken an interest in this issue. He is doing some work in that regard at the moment. Many people who take out a loan or mortgage with a particular bank never contemplate the possibility that it could be sold on to a financial entity they may never even have heard of. While the contractual terms and conditions do not change, that is not the full picture. Some people are left facing much higher interest rates than they would have faced had the loan not been sold on. The way organisations conduct themselves can be different. There are no easy solutions. It is hard to impose solutions retrospectively but I know the Minister, Deputy McGrath, is very aware of this issue. He has taken an interest in it and is looking at options.