Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

One word I have heard Ministers use consistently with regard to this problem is "urgent". The word "urgent" is defined in any dictionary as compelling or requiring immediate action or attention. Apparently, that is not in the Government's dictionary. All one finds in the Government's dictionary is "interdepartmental committee" or "no definitive timeline". The Government's dictionary appears to be rather small and it is probably the only dictionary in the world where cleanliness is next to godliness. Everyone from former US President, Bill Clinton, the Financial Regulator, Matthew Elderfield, and the Governor of the Central Bank, Patrick Honohan, agree that flushing this problem out of the system is the sine qua non for economic recovery in this country. This problem must be tackled sooner or later and we call on the Government to tackle it sooner. If the Government has no interest in people who are suffering and trying to pay their mortgages and it wishes to prolong the agony, let us think of what is required to restore the economy and let us begin to dig ourselves out of the pit, however we got into it.

Since these promises were made, partly on the basis of which the Government was elected last February, several people have lost their homes, but that does not tell the whole story. Other people have moved from one category into another, namely, from the "saveable" category into the "beyond rescue" category. Others have moved into the "rent to mortgage" category where they will be permanent cottiers of the banks.

See this speech in context