Latest news with #PaschalDonohue
The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- Business
- The Irish Sun
Fresh €75 ‘goodwill payment' cash boost for over 55k AIB customers as bank hit by another tracker mortgage scandal
There have been calls for the Central Bank to launch an investigation PROBE CALL Fresh €75 'goodwill payment' cash boost for over 55k AIB customers as bank hit by another tracker mortgage scandal CALLS are growing for an urgent probe into ANOTHER AIB tracker mortgage scandal. The bank is preparing to apologise to over 55,000 customers following complaints about delays in passing on ECB interest rate cuts on their tracker mortgages. Reports over the weekend revealed AIB were overcharging on tracker mortgages they bought from Ulster Bank for €5.4 billion in 2022. Under-fire AIB is now set to spend €5 million on 'goodwill payments', including €75 to each affected borrower, along with interest refunds. Customers have complained about waiting up to a month for rate cuts, leading to higher payments compared to when their mortgages were with Ulster Bank. Furious TD Pearse Doherty today lashed the lender and called for the Central Bank to launch an investigation. He declared: 'Reports that AIB has been over charging 55,000 customers on their tracker mortgages by not passing on the benefit of ECB rate cuts in a timely manner is extremely concerning. 'We know that banks are making eye-watering profits. 'When AIB bought these mortgages from Ulster Bank, the minister for Finance, Paschal Donohue, promised he would ensure homeowners would be protected, and the terms of their contract would travel with them. That has clearly not happened here.' The Sinn Fein Finance spokesperson highlighted how this was just the latest controversy to engulf AIB as he pushed for the Central Bank to initiate a formal investigation. Last year, AIB forked out €3.3 million on 'goodwill' payments to former Ulster Bank borrowers for 'teething problems' related to their mortgages. And in a separate episode in 2022, AIB said it 'profoundly' regretted a series of failings relating to its tracker mortgage portfolio. Tax and spending package of €9.4bn to form basis of Budget 2026 The grovelling apology came after the Central Bank fined the lender €83 million for a 'series of significant and long-running failings in the treatment of its tracker mortgage customers'. At the time, Colin Hunt, AIB's chief executive, said the episode represented a 'very large stain on the reputation of the bank'. 'REPEAT OFFENDER' Speaking tonight, Doherty said: 'This will be the second time AIB has had to issue payments to compensate customers since it bought €5.4billion in mortgages from Ulster Bank in 2022. 'And only a short number of years after it was issued a record fine of almost €100million for its role in the tracker mortgage scandal. 'AIB is a repeat offender, and we need to see a zero-tolerance approach from the central bank. The Central Bank needs to be on the side of the customer, not the banks. 'On top of that, it is very disappointing that AIB is outsourcing the work of managing these mortgages they bought to vulture fund Mars Capital. 'NEED TO SEE ACTION' 'If AIB wants to show they respect their customers and that those who were transferred from Ulster Bank are treated equally, they should take direct management of these mortgages instead of outsourcing the work to a vulture fund and credit-servicing firm. 'We need to see action from government and the Central Bank. Bank practices will not improve until the regulation is tightened, and banks are held to account.' AIB was contacted for comment.
Sunday World
5 days ago
- Business
- Sunday World
Customers need lower prices if hospitality sector VAT rate is axed, TD says
Hotel, bars and restaurants say if the VAT rate is cut they they need to keep the cash to survive. A cut in the VAT rate for the hospitality sector must be passed on to customers, a Government TD has insisted. Paula Butterly, the Fine Gael Deputy in Louth said consumers must also benefit with reduced prices in our bars, restaurants and hotels. The Finance Minister Paschal Donohue is expected to axe the vat rate in the October budget from 13.5 to 9pc at a cost of almost €1 billion to the exchequer. However a large number of Fianna Fail backbenchers are against it and want some of this money used on a cost of living package to help families instead. They also say if the VAT cut is coming it should be brought into play from July 2026 - thus freeing up half a billion quid. Bar. News in 90 Seconds - August 16th But Deputy Butterly said the hospitality industry is struggling and needs help. She said the cut in the hospitality VAT rate is also part of the programme for government and must be delivered. She stated: 'Our SMEs are the fundamental employer in our economy and the tourism sector plays a very significant role in this, especially in regional areas. "While I fully support the VAT reduction I would hope to see their customers benefiting from this with reduced prices. "It is vital we protect and support employment in this sector but we also need to ensure that people coming through their doors see the benefit of the reduction as well." However the hotel, bars and restaurants say if the VAT rate is cut they they need to keep the cash to survive. They argue their costs from food to energy have soared in recent years and they have had no option but to hike up prices to stay in business. They say if they get the VAT rate cut it will mean no job losses and pubs especially in rural Ireland will survive. Adrian Cummins the CEO of the Irish Restaurant Association said the Government decision to increase the VAT from 9pc back up to 13.5pc in September 2023 was catastrophic for the whole industry. He said: 'Restaurants, cafes and food businesses operate on notoriously tight margins. The average profit margin goes between 3 to 5pc in good times and far less in rural parts during the off season. "The increase of 4.5pc was a massive blow. A lower VAT rate supports job security, keeps wage bills manageable, and allows businesses to invest in training and growth. "It is not a gift but an investment in Ireland as a tourist destination."
Irish Daily Mirror
08-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Daily Mirror
'Budget decision by Irish government is a national disgrace in rip-off Republic'
This country really has become the rip-off Republic in the last few months and our out-of-touch Government and their highly-paid mandarins are doing nothing to stop it. The Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Finance Minister Paschal Donohue and the Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers all believe that they are a bunch of geniuses because the economy, against all the odds, is booming. But the harsh reality is that the people who work their butt off every day of the week don't feel it in their pockets. And everywhere you go week-in, week-out prices seem to be rising to insane and unaffordable levels. Just take the weekly grocery shop. The price of beef, mince, milk, butter and spuds have all gone through the roof. What was once for me an 80-quid weekly shop is now costing €100, no matter what supermarket I go into. The truth is there is very little difference in prices between all the top food retailers. The biggest instigator of rising costs is the Government itself. Just take the cost of energy and why are our electricity prices the highest in Europe. We the people own the ESB yet Ministers have allowed them to consistently raise their prices and then we have to pay VAT on top of it. The State is talking about reducing VAT for the hospitality sector in the next Budget, when what it should be doing is ditching VAT on electricity. The Taoiseach and Paschal say there will be no cost-of-living measures in the October Budget to help struggling families - a decision which is a national disgrace. This country has never had so much money and yet the conservative mandarins who control the purse strings are doing little or nothing to help working families. But then look at rising motoring costs and why we are still paying tolls on motorways, when each and every one of them have been paid for. There should only be tolls on newly-built motorways and there is no sign of any new roads being built any time soon. The great Irish rip-off continues when you even go to a sick loved one in hospital. Why in the name of God are the HSE and the individual hospitals nationwide allowed to charge car parking fees for people going to the hospitals either as a patient or visitor. Our Health Service is already getting a record €26.9 billion from the State this year with little or no accountability for how our money is spent. Last year they took in a staggering €20 million in car parking charges which is another scandal. A Government with a heart would abolish these overnight but yet the politicians and the useless civil servants won't allow it. They will tell you they can't interfere which is nonsense. But perhaps the biggest scandal of all are the poor people being charged €1,600 to €2,000 a month to rent a house. They should be given tax exemptions to help cover the accommodation costs because they are being screwed to the wall. It is far cheaper to own a home if you can save up the deposit to get a mortgage. I, like most of you, am in complete despair over the housing crisis. This Government and the Minister for Housing James Browne have not got a clue what they are doing. The State, with all its resources from cash to land, should be building thousands of new council and affordable houses nationwide and it ain't happening. They want the private sector to do it when we should be doing it ourselves. The Mandarins of this world especially in the Department of Housing and Public Expenditure have made an absolute hames of the housing issue over the past decade. They do not want to cede control to individual local authorities who could get us out of the mess if they are given the money and the resources to do it. Successive housing Ministers have listened to the civil servants for far too long and have been left running around like headless chickens. I watched Minister Browne on This Week In Politics on Sunday night and he was poor. The worst part was he refused to listen to some sensible suggestions from the opposition that could get us out of this housing mess and which have already worked in other countries like France. So people out there are rightly angry because they know they are being ripped off everywhere they go. Yet our Government is sitting back, blaming everyone else, and doing nothing to help us. No wonder they are tumbling down in the opinion polls.
Irish Times
27-05-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Dáil suspended as pro-Palestine protesters disrupt proceedings
The Dáil was suspended on Tuesday night after pro- Palestine protesters noisily disrupted proceedings. About 40 people held up Palestinian flags and unfurled a large banner stating 'sanction Israel'. They banged on the protective glass of the visitors' gallery chanting 'stop the genocide' and 'shame on you' during a debate on a Sinn Féin motion to prevent the Central Bank from allegedly facilitating the sale of Israeli war bonds, which they said is funding genocide in Gaza. They protested as Minister for Finance Paschal Donohue dismissed as unworkable the Restrictive Financial Measures (State of Israel) Bill. READ MORE Gardaí and ushers escorted most of the protesters out after the House was suspended for 10 minutes. Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said when the debate resumed that there was 'widespread anger and genocide' but 'weasel words from the Minister'. She protested over the removal of the demonstrators but Fine Gael TD Paula Butterly , who was chairing the session, said visitors in the gallery should remain silent and had been asked twice. Ms McDonald described Mr Donoghue's speech as an 'utter, utter disgrace'. But the Minister insisted the Central Bank does not sell or oversee the sale of Israeli bonds. 'I've heard the Opposition referring to selling them, trading them, dealing them or the bonds being sold. 'The reality is that even if this Bill were to be enacted Israeli bonds would still be available to retail investors across the EU and farther afield.' At this point protesters erupted and the session was suspended.
