I am deeply concerned about the fraudulent activities by vulture funds that include the Irish courts and, indeed, the Land Registry. Over the past few weeks, I shared crucial details with all Deputies, including the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, outlining misconduct in the banking system. This misconduct has significantly affected our economy, the lives of many homeowners, family farms and small businesses. The documents provided by Mr. Edmund Honohan, Master of the High Court for many decades, have my full support. They concern the rights of homeowners, farmers and business owners who are suffering due to an unfair system that is stacked against them completely.

Deceiving the courts and homeowners is a very serious matter. I hope the Minister agrees. Inviting vulture funds to come to the country was bad enough but allowing this carry-on is absolutely reprehensible and disgraceful. Fine Gael and now Fianna Fáil and the Green Party allowed the banks to sell off loans without any requirement to update Land Registry records. The has caused widespread confusion, malpractice and blatant deception which is causing thousands of families to lose their farms and properties in this country.

The courts are not complying with a new EU repossession directive meant to protect the interests of those struggling with mortgage arrears. The reason for this is that the Government has failed to transpose this EU directive. Why has it not been transposed? Is the banking and vulture fund lobby that strong? The courts' non-compliance and Government's inaction are despicable and deeply unfair. It gives distressed borrowers no protection whatsoever while it gives a free hand and a massive advantage to the vulture funds.

Currently in Ireland there is no organisation protecting borrowers, unlike what is available to landlords and tenants under the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB. Distressed homeowners are facing expensive court proceedings which many cannot afford. It is totally unfair given the might of the banks and vulture funds which can roll out the best of law firms. The EU directive suggests a mediation process that would be fairer to people dealing with mortgage arrears. It is imperative that the Government enacts this directive into law, preventing vulture funds from continuing their unfair and disgraceful practices. The Government must act swiftly to halt the vulture funds from selling more people's homes.

Judges need to be upskilled and updated on the law that has been in place in Europe since 2019. Why are we not paying heed to that? We need an upskilling and re-education of members of our Judiciary every so often. Laws change and it is very hard to keep up with them. Currently the laws are not being enforced in our courts and this cannot be allowed to go on. The lawyers representing the vulture funds are providing false evidence in repossession cases, causing significant harm to people and their homes while the Government remains silent. This cannot be allowed to continue either.

I thank Deputy Mattie McGrath for raising this. As everyone in the House knows, we have come through a decade or 15 years which have been quite dramatic for people's personal finances. Many people across this country faced difficulties in their personal lives or their businesses. They accumulated mortgages and debts in good faith but as a result of the economy and the financial crash in 2007 and 2008, they found themselves in very precarious situations. Many people have the scars on their back which reflect that period.

The Government has engaged with the financial authorities on the matter. The Central Bank has a strong role in this regard. There have been significant changes in the law in recent years to provide oversight and protections for those who have debts, those who have mortgages and those who have business debts in terms of engaging in depth and trying to give the capacity, opportunity and find pathways for people to come through to maintain their businesses and in particular to maintain their homes. It is really important that that is the case and that the laws that are in place are overseen by our judicial system. It is important for people to have fair play.

As a result of the good management of the economy and getting into a good position in relation to employment and good fiscal management at Government level, thankfully the economy has recovered. Resolving those issues helped get people into a better situation. However, it is important we keep a close eye on this. It is important that people get fair play in their engagement with financial situations. Regarding the oversight bodies and the laws and regulations we have in place, and which have been significantly adjusted from what they were ten plus years ago, it is important they serve the public well while making sure we have a fair system in terms of financial engagements and contracts as well.

I am very disappointed at the Minister's reply. Since I issued a statement two weeks ago, my office has been inundated by calls from families from all over the Twenty-Six Counties. The Minister and his colleagues all know about these. Why are they not dealing with them? It is shocking that we can transpose any kind of directive from Europe which relates to the environment or is anti-farmer. However, this is an EU directive that has not been transposed and must be transposed. It is shameful for the Minister to stand up and give me those answers today because the Government is not dealing with it.

Ten years on, we look at the number of lives that have been lost, the number of suicides, the number of marriage breakups, the number of people with mental health issues and the number of repossessions and outright blackguarding of families. We in this country fought to get our freedom only to allow the vulture funds and big banking houses to carry on like this. The Government's softly-softly approach will not deal with it. Why does the Minister not give a date here for the immediate transposition of this EU directive into Irish law? Who is the Government protecting? I will not ask whom it is loyal to - we know where that got me before. Who is it protecting? It is not loyal to the people, daoine na hÉireann who elected the Government. I plead with the Minister for Justice and the Minister for Finance to act to stop this sabotaging and plundering - it is worse than in Cromwell's time - of family homes and businesses to make money for the stock exchange in New York. I fully support Ed Honohan in his travels to New York to expose this carry-on at the stock exchange there. This must be stopped. It is outright criminal.

I will get the Deputy an up-to-date note ** Deputy McGrath - a note ** on the specific of the transposition of that directive. As I mentioned previously, the objective of the Government is to work to provide strong support to those who find themselves in financial arrangements relating to a mortgage for a property or a business. There are now strong provisions in place, including the consumer protection code and the code of conduct on mortgage arrears. At Government level the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, continues to monitor the matter, which is important. The landscape and the protections have changed significantly. It is something that we continue to look at in government. It is about protecting the people in every way we can which means giving people protection regarding contracts they enter. It also means having a business environment around which there's confidence and security. That is something that we as a Government want to make sure we maintain.