Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

In April 2006, I recall the then Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, coming on the six o'clock news and telling people to go out and buy their houses because their value would keep rising. The Government and its supporters were talking up the property market back then.

It may have been beyond reasonable expectation to have expected this Government to accept what the Labour Party is proposing this evening. However, the minimum we expected was that the Government would recognise the extent of the problem and come forward with real and meaningful measures. That has not happened. The Labour Party will reject the Government's amendment this evening. This complex problem requires many significant measures to be carried out and based within a legislative framework. The Labour Party's motion, which calls for a two-year moratorium on family home repossessions and the provision of a national home mortgage service to assist mortgage holders who are in difficulty, is the first stage of its approach to put in place structures and processes that will establish security of tenure in the residential property market for distressed home owners. Having listened carefully to contributions from both sides of the House during this debate, I have reached the conclusion that a viable and robust mortgage modification programme can be delivered only by means of a statutory legislative code, one that requires the need for a national home mortgage service.

I commend this motion to the House.

See this speech in context