Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In amendment No. 13, Deputy Mac Lochlainn is effectively turning all mortgages into non-recourse mortgages. I made the point that this could produce strategic default. When people entered into the mortgages they were not non-recourse mortgages. One cannot, through legislation, turn every mortgage in the State into a non-recourse mortgage. That is the implication of what the Deputy is proposing in his amendment No. 13. That would create considerable difficulties and would create additional difficulties within the banking system. It is not a practical proposal.

I made the point earlier that I believe that in the future, non-recourse mortgages should be one of the offerings of certain financial institutions. I emphasise that this is a personal view but I think it ensures the financial institutions exercise due diligence. At present, the financial institutions are exercising due diligence and some would complain that they are making it unnecessarily difficult for first-time borrowers to borrow money for a home. There is always the risk that one goes from one extreme to the other, but let us project ourselves 15 to 20 years ahead and assume the world is completely settled and we have solved our difficulties and the historical memory of what occurred is forgotten. I see advantages in a non-recourse mortgage being offered. We cannot, by dint of this legislation, turn every mortgage in the country into a non-recourse mortgage. That could, in effect, be the consequence of what the Deputy is proposing.