Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is not the first time that the Government, and indeed the previous Government, have brought forward a plan to deal with the mortgage crisis. When Deputy Martin's party was kicked out of office there were 120,000 families in mortgage distress. Every plan that the previous Administration and this one have brought forward has failed because it has left the decision up to the banks. The Minister knows that 185,000 families are in mortgage distress and that excludes the buy-to-let sector. His plan has left these families at the mercy of the banks once again. If he looks at the figures, which deal only with those in arrears of 90 days or more by the end of this year the majority of those 185,000 families will not even be offered a sustainable compromise or solution.

Why has the Minister not learned the lessons of the past? Why has he not taken the veto away from the bank? Does he not realise that the bank will not do what is required? The threat in respect of capital sanctions is not enough. The Minister knows that the stress test tested those banks and provided the capital to allow for the write-down to the current market value of the property. That is the stick the Minister is using against the banks. The 185,000 families were waiting for an immediate solution not some long-fingering that left it up to the banks to decide how best to resolve their mortgages.

What they need is some transparency, not a veil of secrecy leaving it up to the banks to pick one person off the other depending on what is there. Yesterday, the Minister was not-----

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