Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I contrast the treatment meted out to sustainable developers with that of sustainable mortgage holders. The sustainable developers have been allowed to go into NAMA and, in many cases, have managed to trade their way to a profitable position once again. However, the individuals are being told they will remain on the line for an eternity. It is a completely unfair way to treat people and the current directors of AIB are beholden to address this issue. The previous Government put NAMA in place and allowed the developers to trade themselves out of it in a very favourable fashion by putting the taxpayers and people of the State on the line, but we are not able to develop a system which doles out sustainability and affordability to the people of my generation who have been hamstrung and mentally and financially pressurised. I cannot believe there is one treatment for developers and another for the mortgage holders of this country.

Insufficient education is being provided. The delegates include people from the Insolvency Service of Ireland. I am dealing with people in my clinics as a politician and a former banker. They are asking me for assistance in resolving their own issues. There is no knowledge among customers of what is acceptable from the banks.

Every individual I deal with has a different skills set and meets a different response from the banks. That is unfair. When one asks an individual to go to a bank and take out a loan, the loan is given by an institution licensed by the State because we respect its capacity to do right by the citizens and the State. In this case I welcome that next Monday the personal insolvency legislation will be enacted. Despite what some of the journalists said today, that it is a humiliation to go down the personal insolvency route, it is the greatest form of liberation my generation will see. The first thing we need to do is walk in, throw the keys on the table and say: "Okay, you have a problem; you need to solve it for me." That is the first bit of advice I will give anyone who walks into my office. The bank has a generation of people in negative equity in unaffordable, unsustainable loans, because they are there for 25, 35 and, in some cases, 40 years. In 2006, the average mortgage was 37.5 years.

It is imperative for the economy and the welfare of this generation that the bank starts educating people. The idea that the bank and customer keep their agreement private is also inappropriate. If the developer gets one type of treatment and a write-off, will the bank explain that to people? I welcome what Mr. Duffy described as a fair level of write-down or affordability, with an index plus 20%. I know educated, hard-working people for whom the majority of their disposable or net income is going to paying off banks. They do not have a clue about these matters. It is not my fault or that of the banks but of society, and the level of communication is inappropriate. This is a form of liberation and the bank will have to play ball with it. The State has identified €9 billion in the stress tests for write-down by the banks. What will AIB do to educate its customers and ensure the level of personal insolvency trustees is of a sufficient standard to ensure everyone gets the same level of representation or as close to it as possible?