The no-show, on the part of the vulture funds, before the finance committee was clearly a snub to the Oireachtas. We have to ask what they have got to hide. Five vulture funds were invited to appear before the finance committee to engage with members on a range of issues raised by us concerning their operation in Ireland. The invitations were extended to Pepper Asset Servicing, Lone Star Funds, Cerberus, CarVal and Mars Capital. Each has refused to appear before the committee and effectively told us to mind our own business. Naturally, committee members wish to raise questions with these companies about how they treat customers whose distressed loans they have bought. There are thousands of Irish homes and businesses whose future lies in their hands. These large companies, which are effectively carpetbaggers, are here to make a quick buck and are often devoid of any apparent social or moral compass to direct their operations. One such company sought to commit a distressed borrower to jail for refusing to leave their property. Another ignored the protection of a personal insolvency arrangement provided for a distressed borrower and sought to move against his property. What are these companies afraid of and why will they not come before the Oireachtas and outline how they operate and the protection they afford to customers? Their failure to appear leads me to believe that they have something to hide or to be ashamed of. I suspect that we may need to consider a more in-depth review of the operations of vulture funds in Ireland. At the very least, we should seek to oblige these people to co-operate with rather than stonewall the national Parliament of a sovereign state. I will be taking up the matter with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, and my colleagues on the finance committee.

On the matter raised by Senator David Norris, I can identify with much of what he says because I too received a letter from "RTE Investigates" stating that I, like Senator David Norris, had breached the Standards in Public Office and Ethics Acts, the whole lot, by being the director of a firm. They said I had not declared it. Of course, they were totally wrong. I am neither a shareholder nor a director of the company they named. I might not have been quite as shaken as the good Senator opposite, but I did ring the man from whom I had received the letter. He wanted something in writing, but when he heard what I had to say, I think he accepted it.