Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

The people to whom I and Deputy McGrath have spoken take a different view. If Deputy Lynch checks the blacks of today's meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, he will find that the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, the free legal advice centres and other groups do not share his view. I would be pleased to debate the issue with him at another time.

The individuals affected by debt and mortgage problems need finality. As Deputy O'Dea noted, the fear of losing one's home is a phenomenal burden. The increase in the incidence of suicide is a clear indication of the fear in the minds of people who have a family. Losing one's home carries a stigma and people worry about where their children will sleep at night. There is an onus on all of us to bring a resolution to this.

I appeal to the Minister of State to accept this Bill, take an aggressive approach to its amendment and bring it through this House to finality. It should not be allowed to go off the radar, otherwise there will be no certainty for those people who are affected by this crisis. That uncertainty impacts on their livelihoods and, in many cases, on their lives.

There is also the enormous impact on the economy to be considered. The fear associated with the loss of a home or with not knowing where one stands in terms of one's debts impacts on the real economy In order to resolve the entire crisis we need the real economy to become fluid again with transactions and movement. Sadly, that will not happen when all this pent-up debt is there, structured in a way that does not allow the real economy to progress as it should.

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