Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)

We might then be in a much better position than that in which we now find ourselves, on the day Members are debating the utterly unhelpful Keane report, which gives people no hope for the present. It is important to recognise these facts and that Fianna Fáil is not allowed to forget its culpability and inaction. I strongly believe that unless its members were reminded of this fact, this evident move in its position would not have taken place.

While these proposals do not amount to a panacea, it is a step in the right direction towards debt restructuring and mortgage resolution. I commend those who put it together because it is a sign that even those on the right are waking up to the realities that the old methods of dealing with the banks and hoping for a solution are set for failure. The policy of giving billions and getting nothing in return has failed and failed badly. It appears as though there is agreement that many are coming around to what Sinn Féin has been saying all along. Throughout the lifetimes of the last Government and the present Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition, Sinn Féin has argued in favour of supporting those who can manage a restructured sustainable debt, as well as the formation of a body which would, on a case-by-case basis, offer solutions to distressed mortgage holders. I hope this motion constitutes the beginning of some form of consensus on how distressed mortgages and debt resolution must be approached. The 95,000 people who are either 90 days in arrears or who have restructured their mortgages deserve Members' efforts beyond political point-scoring. I am happy to support this Bill. There must now be movement towards the development of a legislative debt resolution process that can enforce its decisions and offer real change to this drastic and growing problem.

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