Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)

Thank you. Why not enforce a system whereby the bankers who lent the money have to accept that they also have a stake in the equity, and if they overlent, they take equity instead of debt? If the equity is worth less, then that is their problem. They made a bad decision as well, and the borrower has suffered enough. Why not also look at the possibility whereby a borrower who cannot pay the money back can hand the keys over to the bank and call it quits? The borrower must accept that he no longer has an equity interest in the house because he cannot pay back the bank, but the bank then has the keys and it has the responsibility. The borrower can then walk away, having suffered for making a bad decision, but also sharing that particular problem with the bank, which will also take a hit. At the moment, it is all one way for some reason.

I am asking the Government not to offer us a list of sticking plaster solutions that will not actually tackle the problem at all. I am asking the Government to look at this in a way that will tackle it fundamentally because the scale of the problem demands it. I commend my colleagues for putting down this motion and for putting it on the agenda. I am utterly dispirited by the fact that the Government is offering sympathy, cups of tea and concern, but no radical thinking on a problem that will haunt us for years to come.

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