Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

Further to Deputy Harris's comments on Friday sittings, we are elected not only as constituency representatives but also to bring our judgment to issues of national importance. Our role is not confined to the five minutes we are allocated here and there to contribute to debates in this Chamber. We also get opportunities for bringing forward our own Bills, which is why Friday sittings are important. I urge the Chief Whip to increase the number of Bills that can be taken on Fridays because other Deputies would like to table Bills for debate. I have been waiting several months for an opportunity to introduce the Bill I have drafted. It is important for the House that Deputies are given opportunities to legislate.

I congratulate Deputy Donnelly on the Family Home Protection (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011. It is not an easy task to prepare legislation when one does not have the resources available to Departments or Government Deputies. It is also an important and complicated issue. It is welcome to have an opportunity to propose potential solutions to the problems it identifies. The Government shares Deputy Donnelly's concerns. As representatives, we face the problems arising on a daily basis.

As the Minister for Justice and Equality pointed out, we have already put in place measures to aid distressed home owners and an interdepartmental working group will shortly complete its work on the Keane report. Relevant announcements will then be made by other Ministers. We will also have more to come in April. It is important to note that the contributions being made here regardless of the result on this Bill, will feed into that and will have an impact on what happens then because everyone is bringing his or her point of view. All Deputies in the House have a point of view and all that will feed into the legislation that will be eventually introduced.

The Bill seeks to give courts discretion when dealing with issues such as repossessions. The explanatory memorandum provided with the Bill states that giving the courts limited discretion would allow for protection of the family home in the broader societal interest without prejudicing the interests of the parties seeking possession. That is the balance we need to strive to achieve in every repossession case in the courts, and the legislation the Government will eventually produce and pass needs to find that balance between what is fair and right as the law determines and what we also believe is just in society. It is important to spend as much time as we can, working to find that balance be it in Friday sittings with legislation coming from other Members of the House or in the work the Government is doing.

I have some questions which have been mentioned already. One relates to the predictive capacity the courts might need to have in determining the value and what may or may not be fair. I believe the Minister has already addressed it and I would like to hear some more from Deputy Donnelly in that regard. Section 2(f) refers to the "conduct of the lender", which is a very wide term and could be potentially unworkable. I would also like to hear the Deputy's thoughts on that matter.

I would like to get an idea of the figures for repossessions forecast both in the non-State-owned banks and in the State-owned banks, in terms of the potential value being lost to the State, for example, even though billions of euro have been already put into the banks to deal with the issue. What is the potential loss to the State-owned banks both in financial terms and in the number of houses? Are there figures for the number of families and people affected, which would be also relevant to what we are discussing?

I compliment Deputy Donnelly on the very detailed briefing document he produced even though he does not have the resources others would have. That briefing document states that if the Bill were adopted a judge would then be able to consider the total public good. For example, the cost to the State of re-housing a family and providing a range of other societal protections may significantly outweigh the benefit to a bank of repossessing the house. That is a very important principle. When people use the cliché "joined-up thinking", what do they mean? It is recognising that it is more than just the financial cost and that there is a societal cost. Value does not strictly mean the financial value of something, but means the other types of value from which one might derive benefit. We must take that into account when we consider these matters because if repossessing a family home will cost society more than not repossessing it - more than what it might cost the bank in financial terms - then we must do what we can to prevent that while taking into account other considerations including the ones mentioned in the Bill.

I support the sentiment of the Bill and will do what I can to ensure those measures that are workable are incorporated into any legislation that comes from the Government in the future. I will support the Government's measures when they come before us and I look forward to further debate in this Chamber on this issue when that legislation comes before the House.

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