Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A lot of the points have been made but I want to mention two things. I have a huge issue with the mortgage-to-rent scheme. It could be a very good scheme but I have come across countless cases where it is not working. It is too difficult. People are being rejected or are not given enough information. People have often been in court already and had their cases adjourned but it is only at that stage, when they contact a public representative, that they hear about the scheme. It does not appear to be actively made known to people. Of the 637 cases that are active, how long have they been worked on? I do not expect the witnesses to have the figures here but I ask that we get a breakdown of the stages they are at. In respect of the 156 cases, how long did it take for the process to happen from start to finish? While the mortgage-to-rent scheme looks good on paper, I often feel it is no more than that. It may be that it is designed to deflect from the problem in that while it looks good that a scheme exists, it is not working in reality.

Too often, I come across situations where the banks will simply not negotiate with people. They will not meet people or speak to them. They push for voluntary surrender. A lot of the mortgage crises in my constituency involve mortgages of €1,000 to €1,2000 per month. One has people saying they can pay €700 or €750 but they are still told that it is not sustainable. Surely, they should be given an opportunity to see if it is sustainable. Many people face a blank wall when they try to look into this, and it takes a great deal for someone to do that. While everyone says contacting one's lender is the thing to do, it is the very thing people are afraid of. People feel like they are putting a red circle around themselves in doing that and that things will get worse once the lender knows about them. When people actually take that step, too often they are met with a wall of silence or find that whatever the bank wants to do is pushed on them, including voluntary surrender. I do not see how that could be good scheme anyone. Realistically, if someone is struggling with a mortgage, the bank sells the property and the person still owes €100,000, the bank is never going to get the money back. Meanwhile, a house is sitting there idle.

There is no sense in it. While it is easy to tell people to contact their lenders, what attitude do the banks have when they do? Unfortunately, in my experience it has been extremely negative.