Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)

I thank Deputy Ciarán Lynch and the Labour Party for putting this motion before the House.

During the period of financial madness, large numbers of families were forced to purchase their homes 50 miles to 70 miles from their workplaces and communities at high prices. A high percentage of them have recently lost their jobs or businesses and are no longer able to pay the high mortgages on their homes. The finance houses, banks, building societies and sub-prime lenders will take off their sheep's clothing and be seen for the greedy wolves that they are, mercilessly pursuing the home owner for every last penny due. Home owners will be dragged before the courts where their homes will be taken from them and be left then with the further debt arising from the negative equity on their homes.

The Labour Party motion, if passed and implemented, would take the first steps in preventing this inevitable scenario. Last night I listened to the Minister of State, Deputy Martin Mansergh, reading a script outlining the Government's position. I was somewhat surprised the Office of Public Works has taken over responsibility for housing. His speech was pathetic. It refused to accept or recognise the reality of the crisis facing thousands of families whose homes are threatened, instead claiming there was no practice of mass evictions in modern Ireland. It stressed we should be careful lest we upset the banks as it may affect our credit rating.

Either the Government is blind to reality or it could not give a damn about the little people. The Government could find €54 billion to bail out the banks and its friends, the developers and builders. As far as those home owners in trouble are concerned, it is a case of let the devil take the hindmost. For this Government, the home owner with a mortgage he cannot pay is the hindmost and can go to the devil.

Deputy Willie Penrose in a forceful contribution to this debate described the financial carousel that faced the home seeker during our period of financial madness when second-hand council houses could change hands for up to €500,000. Home buyers were faced with the might and resources of the finance houses and developers only to be poorly served by the surveyors and solicitors they hired. Banks with their sheep's clothing on shovelled money at the home buyers, convincing them to buy now before there was another increase in price.

In one instance I know of in my area, a developer increased the price of houses in one day by €20,000 per unit. The banks sanctioned the extra loans and mortgages over the mobile telephones of purchasers. The response was simply, "Get in quick, no problem with the extra money". I am sure some bank manager got a bonus for that nice deal. The builder certainly did.

The sheep's clothing is off now and we can see the greedy wolves for what they are while the Government says not to disturb the bankers. All of this could have been prevented and avoided. The Government played a key role in creating and magnifying the problem which is now a crisis. If the Government had implemented the Kenny report on building land, thereby controlling its price, regulated the financial institutions and not adopted the McCreevy light-finger regulation, none of this would have occurred. Of course, Fianna Fáil never had any intention of doing so as it would have offended their paymasters in the Galway Races tent. Now the home owner must pick up the tab and is abandoned by the Government. The Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government has been derelict in its duty.

The stark reality is that tens of thousands of families are unable to pay their mortgages. They must be housed somewhere which they can afford. Instead of them swelling the lists for RAS, rent subsidy or social housing, the Labour Party argues the best option is to let them stay where they have already established their homes with their families. In turn, they should be allowed to pay what they can afford and when their situation improves they can resume full payments on their mortgages.

Unfortunately, during our period of financial madness, houses were used as a common commodity to be speculated on, to invest in and to increase the wealth of those already well-off. If the speculators are in trouble now, they will not get any sympathy from me. A home is not just a piece of real estate or property. A home is usually a once-in-a-lifetime purchase where families put down roots and become part of a community. It is where family members love one another and children are born and reared to adulthood. It is the place where members of a family are protected, cared for and can feel secure. A home is a permanent place of shelter, the roof over one's head and the place to where everyone returns. The right to a home is a basic human right. To treat a home as just another piece of property that can be given or taken away at the behest of a financial institution is immoral. It is the denial to that right to a home and shelter. I urge the Government to seriously think again before rejecting this Labour Party motion.

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