Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The question of mortgage distress and, more important, how to adequately address the issue is probably the most pressing one, along with the jobs crisis, which this Government faces and which needs to be resolved. As Deputy Doherty said, they go hand in hand. We cannot resolve one without resolving the other. We have had much discussion, press announcements, reports and even legislation in the guise of the Personal Insolvency Act but, unfortunately, all the proposals coming forward have not even stemmed the problem, not to mention begin to reverse the issue of mortgage distress.

Earlier Deputy Lawlor referred to some of the figures, which are pretty shocking. From 2009 to 2012, the number of mortgages in severe distress, that is, more than 90 days in arrears, increased by more than 300%. I am not for one moment saying that this Government is responsible for the mortgage crisis. We know who is responsible for it. It is the Fianna Fáil policies of old and the banking system which fuelled it. However, this Government is responsible for what has not taken place in the past two years.

We were told the Personal Insolvency Act would go a long way to resolve the issue for many families in mortgage distress. During the debate on that legislation we, along with others in this House, NGOs and those working in the industry, said that as long as the veto remains in it, we will not adequately address the mortgage crisis. That will be the case. We need solutions, and we have put forward solutions. We have put forward solutions in our job creation document. As was pointed out, unless we deal with this issue, we will not adequately deal with the other one.

The issue of debt write-down needs to be looked at. The banks have been recapitalised to take those losses but they are trying to work the legislation to maintain a veto over those in mortgage distress but we will not resolve the issue that way.

The Government is sincere about what it wants to achieve and I do not believe for one moment that there is anybody on the Government benches who does not want to resolve the mortgage crisis, but the actions and proposed solutions of the Government to date do not match that sincerity.

See this speech in context