Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The ongoing situation of people in mortgage arrears is unacceptable, given the scale of the continuing crisis and the hands-off approach of the Government and the Central Bank to the resolution of the issues facing thousands of families, whose entire futures are in jeopardy and whose lives are paralysed by the lack of sustainable solutions. Since Central Bank targets have come into play, approximately 13,000 letters have issued from the AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank, initiating the potentially devastating prospect of eviction and repossession. That figure dwarfs all other potential solutions such as loan extensions, interest-only deals or split mortgages. Yesterday representatives of Ulster Bank appeared before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and acknowledged that over 4,000 owner occupiers were in the legal process and admitted frankly that up to 1,500 had a realistic chance of having their homes repossessed. The Taoiseach said some months ago that that was the last resort and something the Government did not want to countenance. The inconsistency of the approach, depending on the lender, is unacceptable. AIB, Bank of Ireland and permanent tsb have dramatically different approaches with different outcomes. A person who borrows €200,000 in a split mortgage from AIB could be €57,000 better off than someone with the same mortgage from Bank of Ireland. The difference is extraordinary. It is not acceptable that a customer depends on pot luck, whether with Bank of Ireland, permanent tsb or AIB, which determines that there is a massive difference in how that one option plays out. Eighteen months after the personal insolvency regime was introduced and all of the targets set by the Central Bank, the situation is not satisfactory by any stretch of the imagination and not sustainable for many families. It is time for a fundamental review of the approach to this issue and for the Government and the Central Bank to be far more hands-on, to take a more standardised and consistent approach to the issue of mortgage arrears.

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