Barrister TD to introduce bill for class action lawsuits

A bill to allow class action lawsuits in Irish law will be introduced to the Dáil this week.

Willie Penrose, a barrister and Labour TD, said his Courts (Multi Party Actions) Bill would allow wronged tracker mortgage customers to take a class action suit against banks, rather than taking out individual lawsuits

He said the “unique bill” would result in lower litigation costs and would help families affected by the tracker mortgage scandal.

Mr Penrose said: “Just a few short years ago the banks brought our country to its knees with reckless lending. Now we have yet another scandal. The banks are now in a place where they are posting billions of euro in profits, yet they have systematically defrauded tens of thousands of customers.

“These customers deserve to be able to take a collective action, rather than thousands of customers going in and out of the courts on the same issue. These types of cases will lower litigation costs for those seeking justice from the wrong-doings of the banks.

“Parties from all sides of the Oireachtas have criticised cartel-like behaviour from the banks, if we are to truly help these families impacted by tracker mortgages, it is imperative that this legislation goes through the Houses quickly with full cross-party support.”