Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)

As other Deputies have stated, there is no doubt this issue is a ticking time-bomb, and the ticking is getting louder and an explosion is not too far away. This time last year, almost 30,000 householders had problems. Now the figure is said to be three times that but, in reality, the figure is probably much more than that. Hundreds of thousands of people are in negative equity. People cannot sell or rent and the houses they are in at present are not adequate to meet their needs. Crucially, they have no way out as they have no ability to meet the repayments being sought from them because their income is falling and mortgages are rising. Adding into the equation the fact that many of these people have been shackled with mortgages of 30 or 40 years duration, it is quite clear that the situation is totally and utterly unsustainable and at some stage something will have to give.

It is important that we link this to the overall economic situation and how we got into this mess. Reckless speculation and profiteering on the property market has had devastating consequences for the entire economy and for everybody as taxpayers and citizens, and those who bought at the height of the boom are victims on the double or treble.

If one peruses the repossession cases in the courts, one will get an idea of the type of disgusting borrowing practices that were sanctioned by the banks and their culpability in this regard. In recent weeks, there was a case where in 2008 a 48 year-old man was given a mortgage for 35 years at repayments of €3,000 a month. This means that for 17 of those years he would have to meet those repayments on a State pension. This cannot be done and it is an impossible situation to be in. The banks have to take responsibility for this. The programme for Government speaks about a radical solution. However, there does not seem to be much there that would deliver on this commitment. Extending tax relief and all of the other measures mentioned by Deputies while welcome would not really get to the nub of the problem.

In essence, we are speaking about a roof over somebody's head, which is a fundamental human right. The starting point must be that this cannot be threatened. What is the point of stating to people, and it has been said to people who are short a couple of hundred euro in their monthly mortgage repayment that there is no answer to it, that they cannot receive any assistance but instead they have sell the house and perhaps go into private rented accommodation where the State would subsidise their rent to the tune of €800 or €900? A family would be uprooted with all of the social consequences that go with this, and the cost to the State would be far greater than the cost of making efforts to keep that family in that home. This situation cannot be countenanced. There is a long tradition of opposing evictions and repossessions in Ireland and I would actively defend people fighting to stay in their family home.

The Government needs to do much more in terms of the banks. We own almost all of the banks. Increasing interest rates on mortgages is unacceptable and can have only negative consequences in driving more people over the edge and into difficulties with repayments. These institutions have received billions of euros of taxpayers money and are now seeking to saddle us with extra debt through mortgage repayments to restore some of their own profitability. As the owners of the banks we have to state "enough is enough" and it should be ruled out.

Ultimately, the only solution to this issue is a retrospective revaluation of all the houses bought during the bubble years and for mortgage payments to be revised downward in line with the new value. Anything else and any other proposal would merely tinker around the edges and would not address the day-to-day difficulties householders have. In this sense, if one is speaking about being radical and addressing the situation, this is the only solution that can be countenanced. It is something that is within our remit given the amount of our money that has been pumped in to the banks in this regard. I urge the Government to consider this as a solution.

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