The following motion was moved by Deputy Michael McGrath on Tuesday, 26 March 2013:That Dáil Éireann: notes:— the worsening crisis in respect of mortgage arrears, with over 94,000 residential mortgages in arrears for greater than 90 days and over 28,000 buy-to-let mortgages in arrears for the same period; — that almost one in four family home mortgages and more than one in three buy-to-let mortgages are now either in arrears or have been restructured; — the slow progress made to date by banks in identifying and implementing solutions for distressed borrowers; — the additional burden being placed on families struggling with their mortgage arising from cuts to child benefit, PRSI increases, local property tax and other measures in budget 2013; — the adverse impact on mental health, the well-being of society and the domestic economy arising from the failure to adequately address mortgage distress; — the widespread concern about the threat of a significant increase in family home repossessions arising from the mortgage arrears resolution targets programme, the proposed changes to the code of conduct on mortgage arrears and the Government’s plan to reverse the Dunne judgment; and — that, in effect, the bank will retain a veto, in the vast majority of cases, over any proposal to restructure the mortgage under the planned new personal insolvency service;recognises:— the importance of tackling the mortgage arrears crisis to support economic recovery; and — the best interests of society are served by ensuring that families can remain in their homes so long as reasonable efforts are made to meet their mortgage commitments;calls for: — the establishment of clear, consistently applied guidelines in respect of reasonable living expenses for distressed borrowers; — the family home to be protected from repossession unless every other possible alternative has been exhausted, including giving the borrower the option of entering a mortgage-to-rent arrangement; — the Government to refrain from introducing legislation that will remove obstacles to the repossession of family homes until such time as the Central Bank is satisfied that the banks are properly addressing the mortgage arrears crisis by entering into meaningful long-term sustainable solutions to mortgage distress with individual borrowers; — the setting up of a mortgage resolution office, under the new Insolvency Service of Ireland, to arbitrate between borrowers and lenders and, where necessary, to make a binding mortgage resolution order; and — greater emphasis on the implementation of long-term sustainable mortgage solutions such as split mortgages, shared equity and permanent interest rate reductions.

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