Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are 100,000 mortgages in distress and we want to ensure in so far as it is possible that the vast majority of those people can have resolution brought about to their mortgage problems and are able to plan their lives accordingly and have the opportunity to contribute to their local economy and society in general. Everyone understands that this is what is required. Given the circumstances that some people have found themselves in and find themselves in, this is not an easy position to resolve.

The banks have been recapitalised extensively and it is a matter for the banks to sit down and work out individual cases because the circumstances are always different. The personal insolvency agency is derived from one of the most radical tranches of legislation brought into the House in more than a century and what is set out in terms of guidelines, which have yet to be adopted, is the whole spectrum of what might be involved.

I have answered questions about this already. What is required is a degree of common sense about the rights of people and the contribution they wish to make to deal with their particular mortgage situation. Some have said that the banks hold the whip hand on this at the end of the day but it is not true in respect of the legal recourse that any person has. Banks are now required to work out a solution by virtue of the changes made, the monitoring of the Central Bank and by their own admission in having trained personnel to sit down with individual mortgaged persons who have distress in their mortgages. If that is not possible through the insolvency agency or if it does not work out then, depending on how the practitioner makes recommendations, people have legal recourse subsequently. All the issues Deputy Halligan mentioned and all the general comments about guidelines must be adopted and considered but they in no way determine that a person would have to give up work or make a choice specifically in respect of his individual household income and how he would work out a resolution in regard to his debt.

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