Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, the head of banking regulation at the Central Bank, Ms Fiona Muldoon, made a very frank and honest statement in which she outlined what was not being done about the mortgage crisis. We have raised this issue on a continual basis for the past 18 months. Yesterday, it was confirmed that half of the 168,000 owner-occupier mortgage holders in arrears have no formal arrangement in place and the losses already incurred have not even begun to be cleaned up. It was revealed for the first time that 48,000 buy-to-let mortgage holders who are €13 billion in debt are in financial difficulty, and the banks were berated for not acting on the issue. Ms Muldoon called for urgent action and condemned what she saw as bankers behaving like unruly teenagers in dealing with the mortgage debt crisis. She stated there was a lack of urgency of purpose in dealing with the mortgage arrears crisis and that the banks needed to get busy fixing the issue. The Central Bank was very robust in its comments yesterday and was far more assertive than the Taoiseach has been on this issue. Last week, I raised the issue of AIB raising its standard variable mortgage interest rates and the Taoiseach defended the bank and stated he could not intervene.

In addition to Ms Fiona Muldoon's comments, the Secretary General of the Department of Finance stated very clearly a much more dramatic write-off of debt was required in respect of households in unsustainable situations and unable to pay. It took a civil servant to say what the Government has refused to say on debt forgiveness for the past two years. It raises fundamental questions about Government policy. What is Government policy on debt forgiveness? With regard to the Personal Insolvency Bill, the Taoiseach proposed the unruly teenagers would have a veto on mortgage debt and the resolution of household debt. It is time the Taoiseach re-examined the Bill and took on board the suggestion we put forward in the Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill tabled by Deputy Michael McGrath, which would create an independent objective arbitrator to resolve debt issues between customers and banks. By any yardstick the performance of banks to date can give no one any confidence they will deal adequately, properly or in a sustainable way with customers and people experiencing pain because of the scale of mortgage arrears they are in.

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