Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

The Government established a special Cabinet committee on mortgage arrears. We have had the Keane report. There has been much soul-searching as part of the attempt to provide answers to the 118,000 people who are in significant mortgage arrears of over 90 days. The Irish Examiner summed up yesterday's rushed press conference very well when it referred to it as a "newsless news conference". Another columnist described it as "a very moving waste of time".

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