Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Makhlouf is quite correct that the recovery will come. That brings me to my next subject, mortgages, which has been covered by a number of other members. In supports we have applied to business and enterprise in this country, we have applied a standard of vulnerable but viable and have sought to support, assist and get people through until we reach that recovery stage, which will come.

Like, I am sure, every other member here, many people have contacted me saying they were just about to sign a mortgage or close on the purchase of a house when the rug was pulled from under them because they were in receipt of a support or payment or the company that they worked for received support. It seems terribly unfair, at a stage where somebody is about to enter into a 20 or 25-year contract with his or her bank to purchase a house and pay it back, and just at the start when they are vulnerable but viable, which we will support them through, that the banks would pull the rug from under them. That is heartbreaking for many people, whether it is a new purchase or a family trying to trade up. People will know how difficult it is to get through the house purchase scheme in the best of times. What can the Central Bank do in that regard? These mortgages are mainly with the pillar banks. Can the Central Bank request the banks to apply a more lenient and long-term view and adopt an approach of accepting that while the person may vulnerable at the moment, over the next 25 or 30 years of his or her working life, our economy will grow that person will be viable?