Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I tend to agree with Deputy Boyd Barrett in this regard. The opposition to the Government's supposed solution on mortgage arrears has been somewhat meek and mild. It is an appalling solution. Disguised in it is the discussion that comes out all the time about the Dunne judgment. The Dunne judgment saved the houses of many people who would otherwise have had their houses repossessed. Part of the Government's solution, which is not put up front, is to give back to the banks the right to repossession. I do not accept any Minister's statement here that this will be the last resort. Once the banks have it back, that is the power they hold at the back of every single settlement proposed under the new mortgage arrears procedures. It is not the last solution; it is actually the first one, because it is the first threat. It may be hidden and not specifically spelled out in each case, but it is there. The floodgates will be opened to repossession in the next few months. I gather from the Minister's reply here last week that the repossession Bill - that is what it will be, whatever it is called - will be introduced before the summer. We can predict with great confidence and great fear that repossessions will be back in spades by Christmas. That is not a solution to the mortgage problem.

The other issue that is not recognised is that the banks' books completely and utterly underestimate this problem. The banks will be recapitalised - wait and see. They will have to be recapitalised because the under-provisions are so large they will have to allow for more bad debts. The question then is: from where will this money come? There are only two sources of money for recapitalisation. One is the taxpayers, who have not got any left, and the other is the ESM, which says it will not give it anyway. What will be the solution? We are heading towards a disaster, the cracks of which we are trying to paper over by introducing what we call "single individual cases being considered on their merits". That is to extend and pretend. This is an accident waiting to happen on the same-type scale as the last bank crisis.

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