Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

People are being forced out of their homes. There were almost 1,000 repossessions in one form or another in the past two years. A United Left Alliance colleague of mine is dealing with a family who were ordered to be on the streets at 12 p.m. tomorrow, a husband, wife and three children, on the orders of a subprime mortgage lender. That is the reality of the distress and suffering that exists. She has intervened and hopefully there will be more breathing space and a resolution perhaps but is it not the case that if the exorbitant, speculative, profiteering prices that young workers in their 20s and 30s were forced to pay are written down to the real current level, and monthly mortgage payments are written down, not only does it resolve the crisis for many of these home owners, it would put perhaps billions into the real economy that could not otherwise be spent on jobs and services, helping to regenerate and stimulate the economy that is languishing because of the disastrous austerity the Government is pursuing?

Is it not the case that of the huge amounts of recapitalisation money that has been put into the banks by the taxpayer at the Government's behest, about €5 billion is to go towards distressed mortgages? Where is the relief for the taxpayers who paid that money? Can the Taoiseach stand by and deny real relief with the amount he insists on paying to unsecured bondholders, an incredible €17 billion in interest alone for the promissory note for Anglo Irish Bank bondholders over the next 20 years, and €30 billion of substantial payments?

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