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

I have about 45 seconds left on the clock.

The Insolvency Service of Ireland has given mortgage holders of my generation the capacity to play hardball. However, if one is a personal insolvency trustee it is to one’s benefit to put the argument that the person should accept what the bank is providing because ultimately the trustee wants the mortgagee to take it because he or she gets paid by the bank. That is a fundamental problem in the system.

We must establish the situation from the point of view of the Irish Credit Bureau when a person enters into some form of arrangement with a bank. In some instances the Irish Credit Bureau, after having been made aware of that fact, has put a moratorium on people’s ability to draw down credit, whether that be a college loan for a child or for the purchase of a car or other simple, basic item. That is not appropriate because people are in a programme for a prolonged period.