Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Everybody knows what his or her mortgage is because that is given under the mortgage arrangement which he or she initially entered into. People know what their obligations are in terms of their repayments and the capital outstanding. One line of argument is to say that if there are discounts they should apply to individual mortgage holders as well but the problem with that is what one would say to the neighbour who is fully compliant, not in arrears and liable for the full mortgage. How does one explain the difference? The arrangement that has been come to with the banks, through the Central Bank in particular, is that mortgages in arrears are treated on a case-by-case basis and restructuring arrangements are available through the lending agencies depending on the circumstances.

There is no universal right to a discount but discounts are applied on a case-by-case basis. The announcements made by the Minister for Justice and Equality to amend the insolvency laws will mean that, at the very end, there is an alternative to a repossession. A case before the courts will be tracked to a judge who will have, in effect, the same powers as an examiner has at present to adjudicate on the appropriateness of an insolvency arrangement and can decide in favour of the mortgage holder. It is not that there are no solutions but there are no solutions that are universally applied. There are solutions that attempt to fit the particular case.

This is not to say that this is not a very fraught area. Obviously, people who cannot afford to pay their mortgages suffer an awful lot of stress and trauma but I do not know any universal way of dealing with it. We have brought forward a whole series of proposals to deal with mortgage arrears on a case-by-case basis.

Some 115,000 mortgages have been restructured already and it is now running at about 2,500 a month on restructuring. People are keeping the new terms, with about 85% of restructuring arrangements still intact 12 months afterwards. That is the general approach.