Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to contribute on this Private Members' motion on mortgages, the major distress for families, and the issue of housing. This time bomb is about to explode and we need to be ready for it. Following the promissory note deal, we also need to be on our guard concerning the issue of Article 123 of the Lisbon treaty and the concerns of the German central bank, the Bundesbank.

I hope that the Government is up early in the morning dealing with this significant potential crisis. If there is not real burden sharing and better debt resolution in the EU, the economy will be blown out of the water, with major consequences for our citizens, household arrears and debts. The Government can never claim that it was not warned. One in four mortgage holders is in distress while tens of thousands more are at risk of distress. Some 115 mortgage holders fall into distress everyday. The Government has failed to implement fully the recommendations of the report of the interdepartmental mortgage arrears working group, the Keane report, on the mortgage crisis. The Central Bank and the financial institutions are failing to be proactive. The personal insolvency legislation will do little for the majority of mortgage holders. We need to face up to these facts and support families in need, not destroy family life in Ireland.

I urge Deputies to support this motion, as it offers solutions. We need to remove lenders' veto over proposed insolvency agreements in the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 and prioritise the maintenance of the family home in any agreement on residential mortgages. However, we also need to provide legislation for independent adjudication and enforcement in mortgage distress cases, take more direct action with the Central Bank to force lending institutions and ensure that NAMA contributes to the social and economic development of the State by providing the housing units in its portfolio that are suitable for social housing.

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