Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)

The problem posed by distressed mortgages cannot be overplayed. It is one of the biggest challenges facing the Government and the solution is neither easy nor simple. As someone who, in common with most Members, is deeply troubled by the problems facing thousands of people in this State, I must consider the Bill before the House and judge it on its own merits. That said, it is difficult to not perceive this Bill as an attempt by the party responsible for the problem to try to look like the good guys. This is the party which, for two or three years, did nothing about the problem its members helped to create. Doing nothing, given the nature of distressed mortgages, is a wholly negative contribution. I cannot get past how much we might have saved or how much hardship, worry and struggle for ordinary families might have been avoided, had Fianna Fáil, now clasping what its members claim to be a solution, actually done a single meaningful thing while on the other side of this Chamber to bring about solutions for distressed mortgage holders.

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