Sinn Féin’s finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty has rejected a claim by officials in the Department of Finance that his No Consent, No Sale Bill is unconstitutional.
He told RTE radio’s Today with Sean O’Rourke show that the legal advice he had received was that the Bill was not unconstitutional.
Officials from the Department of Finance were expected to tell an Oireachtas committee Tuesday that the department shares the Central Bank's grave concerns about draft laws that would require the consent of mortgage holders before their loans could be sold to so-called "vulture funds".
According to RTÉ the department says it is very concerned about the potential implication of the Bill for the financial stability of the banking sector and wider economy, coming so close as it does to Brexit.
The opening statement also says that in its assessment, the Bill will lead to higher mortgage interest rates for consumers.
It also cautions that the draft laws could have the effect of reducing the availability of mortgage lending overall and potentially severely restrict Irish banks' capacity to access Eurosystem credit, particularly in a crisis or during times of market stress.
Mr Doherty maintained that there is a difference between a bank and a vulture fund, who he said were only interested in short term gains and would not treat customers as sympathetically as banks.
Vulture funds just want to maximise their profits and then to get out of here.
The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, will discuss the No Consent, No Sale Bill which has been described as unconstitutional.
Last week the Central Bank Governor, Philip Lane, told the committee the bank had "grave concerns" about the Bill.