Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

I thank everyone for their contributions to the debate. The Keane committee did a great deal and worked through the holiday period to meet very tight deadlines set down by the economic management committee of the Cabinet. I thank the Keane committee members for their hard work in producing the report. It is not a minimalist report and there are very good ideas in it. The committee was asked to address the problem and those involved were independent in the exercise of their powers of analysis and in reporting. Some of what is contained in the report does not particularly suit the Government, advising in one case against an element in the programme for Government, as many Members have pointed out.

The report is independent and has been published for consideration. As I originally promised, we brought it into the House as quickly as possible so that everyone could share the findings. In parallel, outside groups with a contribution to make to the debate were invited before the finance committee. We will examine the contributions made by outside groups and, by combing the record, take careful note of any proposals for solutions.

I am not ruling out debt for equity but there is a problem with facile solutions, although I am not saying it is facile. We will study the process. One of the models in the report, for example, mentions a need for further analysis in the context of the solutions around the warehoused part of the split mortgage. If a mortgage is being split, and the report indicates further analysis should be done, this is a pointer that considerations for equity for the part not being dealt with could be valid. We must analyse such matters before returning to the House and announcing Government intentions.

We must always remember that there is no borrower without a lender and no debt without a creditor. We have capitalised and have the majority share in most of the banks, which is relevant to mortgages. It is true to say that we have 98% of AIB and 15% of Bank of Ireland, along with many preference shares and much money lost by the previous Government in there as well. There are real lending agencies that underpin the housing market, such as the building societies.

Irish Nationwide, EBS and Permanent TSB are all either out of business or impaired in one way or another and have had to be recapitalised. The three big mortgage names among the building societies are either out of business, like Irish Nationwide, or in State hands. If one decides to write off debt, a lot of the time one is transferring it from the mortgage holder to the taxpayer because at the end of the day, that is what happens.

Deputy Boyd Barrett made a great plea and challenged the Central Bank's figures. He said the cost of impaired mortgages is not €14 billion, that when one examines the figures one can reduce them to €8.5 billion. Let us consider €8.5 billion for a Deputy who cannot take the pressure of budgetary adjustments of about half that size. Where are we going to get the money? If we impose that on the banks the taxpayer must immediately put further capital into the banks. It is not an easy solution.

I am very interested in the opinion of Deputies because the one thing about them is that they are meeting people all the time who have difficulty. They understand individual cases and, frequently, the nuances of those cases. There are other theoretical commentators who do not understand what they are talking about a lot of the time. They are very good on the theory but they are not very good on the practical examples.

One could ask where we are to go from here. The Minister for Justice and Equality is working on the insolvency legislation. We have accepted that the Fianna Fáil-sponsored Bill on insolvency which is based on the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission will move on to Committee Stage. Independently, the Minister is bringing forward his own insolvency legislation. He is not delaying on it. He nearly has the heads of the Bill ready. We are within weeks of them being ready and being able to move on to the drafting stage.

Much focus has been placed on people continuing to live in their own homes and their status changing from owner-occupiers to tenants of a local authority or housing agency. That is the back-stop. That is the last case scenario. Mr. Keane recommends a range of interventions in between where people will continue to own their house. Various arrangements will be made with them through the banks. There is no one solution but there are a number of things in the report that provide solutions for individual cases. If Members wish to add to those solutions, I make the commitment that we will take the proposals, analyse them and see whether they fit. When we come back in a couple of weeks we will put a portfolio of possible solutions for individual cases with impaired mortgages. We all know the scale of the problem and we all know the need for solutions. Many of the problems are not easily addressed but we will do our best.

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