BANK OF IRELAND has said it is formally investigating comments made by some members of staff in a work chat regarding RTÉ’s two-part documentary series on the tracker mortgage scandal.

In late 2016, it emerged that thousands of Irish mortgage customers who were entitled to a tracker interest rate on their mortgage were denied a right to one or denied the option of one. The new series examines the scandal and interviews affected homeowners.

The messages, which have been seen by The Journal, show several members of staff discussing the series, Trackers: The People V The Banks, and Padraic Kissane, a financial advisor and mortgage broker who helped clients impacted by the scandal resolve matters.

Kissane featured in the series as a leading expert on the scandal.

Disparaging comments about Kissane were made by several members of staff at Bank of Ireland in the work chat.

In a statement, Bank of Ireland said the comments were “completely unacceptable” and don’t represent the views or values of the company.

“We  have initiated a formal investigation and have taken immediate actions. We will take any further steps that are necessary when this investigation concludes,” it said.

It added that some of the comments made by staff within the digital conversation “showed empathy for customers impacted by the tracker issue” and acknowledged the bank’s failures, but others were “completely and utterly inappropriate”.

“These included unacceptable comments directed towards someone who played a critical role in representing homeowners,” it said, refraining from naming Kissane.

Bank of Ireland said Kissane is “person of integrity” and the bank has a strong working relationship with him.

“We have engaged directly to express our unreserved apology for the inappropriate commentary.

“The impacts of the tracker mortgage issue were significant and wide-reaching, and we again unreservedly apologise to all impacted customers. What took place in relation to tracker mortgages was wrong, it should never have happened, and we are very sorry that it did.”

Kissane told The Business Post, which first reported the story yesterday, that he was “upset, hurt and angered” by the posts, and said one of them was “appalling”.

A spokesperson for Kissane told The Journal today that he had nothing to add further to his comments yesterday.