Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague, Deputy Michael McGrath for once again putting this issue on the agenda in a constructive fashion which he has done over the past two and a half years. Since the Dáil last debated this issue, we have had presentations at the Oireachtas finance committee on this matter. It is too early to make a call on the impact of the personal insolvency legislation. As we have stated, when we do have figures on its operation, we will not see it having the impact it could have if it had been more independent of the current banking system and if borrowers had been more empowered to benefit from it.

Over the summer we had some positive economic figures in employment and this morning the positive growth figures which should be acknowledged and which suggest some green shoots of recovery. While Ministers can run around claiming the credit for these figures, the elephant in the room is mortgage arrears. If this is not tackled, we will never have an economic recovery. This morning’s Central Statistics Office figures once again show personal expenditure figures are under considerable pressure. This has an impact on our domestic economy, retail and services sector. While they are suffering, they are not in a position to create jobs.

Why is this? Setting aside the second homes to which Deputy Barry referred, 142,892 family home mortgages were in arrears at the end of June. Of this, 57,163 were in arrears for more than a year and nearly 28,000 of them were in arrears for more than two years. These families cannot participate in an economic recovery because they do not have the means to pay their mortgages, never mind getting involved in supporting the recovery of our economy. The notion of a sustainable solution as part of the mortgage arrears resolution target programme sounds great. However, as we all knew when it was announced in haste in Government Buildings earlier this year, the banks claiming credit for sending letters to distressed mortgage holders is not the answer.

This summer I have been inundated with cases of what some banks believe are sustainable solutions. I have the case of a gentleman in his early 70s who remortgaged his house to assist his family. When he fell into arrears of €450, he received a letter from his bank advising him to sell his house. This was the only sustainable solution they could put in front of him. He was told he could pick his own auctioneer subject to the bank’s approval. That is not a sustainable solution for a man of that age. The chief executive officer of the bank claimed at the Oireachtas finance committee earlier this month that this case was part of its solution to this issue.

While we constantly talk in this House of the need for people to reskill and reimagine themselves, I have another case of a man who was employed in the construction industry who reskilled to work in financial services. He started at the bottom rung and worked his way up this sector. However, while he was reskilling he did not have the capacity to pay his mortgage. He engaged with his bank during that time but matters slipped. He recently received a letter from his bank informing him his case is now with the bank’s solicitors who are moving towards repossession and he cannot engage with the bank.

They are typical of these so-called sustainable solutions. They are not sustainable. Deputy Maloney and other speakers referred to the threat that is used on people, which opens up the other side of this debate away from the macroeconomic figures into the personal stress and distress that has been caused in houses around the country by the banks' push to get the figures so they can come in here and say they have offered 56,000 or whatever number of solutions. However, behind each of those letters is a personal story of distress. Deputy Michael McGrath has consistently proposed a different way of doing this. Bank loan books need to be addressed, but doing it this way is wrong and will not resolve the situation. Deputy Maloney is right. There are many ideas floating around here that can reach where we need to be, but in a different and fair way and that is what we are all about.

Over the summer at their was much talk, particularly at the committee hearings, about strategic defaulters. There are those who are deliberately not paying their mortgages in the hope of not having to pay them, but the level of debate it is getting does not reflect the number of people who are making this choice. It strikes me that the banks throw this out there so we can talk about it rather than discussing the real distress to people and families and seeking a sustainable but fair solution to the position in which they find themselves. We heard it again this morning from the Tánaiste. Unfortunately, reeling out figures on sustainable solutions creates a disconnect from the reality of the stress and distress on the ground.

If we are to see economic recovery, this issue must be dealt with. While that level of debt burdens those 143,000 households we cannot move on. If we are to recover socially and recover our sense of collectivity and pride as a country, this issue must be dealt with. We cannot abandon 143,000 families to the wolves of the financial markets, the whims of bank lawyers and the targets of the Central Bank, which have no knowledge of what it is to receive one of those letters. It might be good for the banks to come before the committees and roll out these statistics but it might be worthwhile for the committee to hear from some of those receiving the letters to see the reality of it. This issue must be addressed with a lot more urgency, thought and feeling.

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