Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. The statistics show that 94,500 private home mortgage accounts are in arrears of more than 90 days, with 23,500 in arrears of more than 720 days. These statistics are very sobering, recording as they do the nightmare situation facing families. Most of these purchasers started out with dreams and hopes spawned in a Celtic tiger era. People bought their homes in good faith. They intended to pay for them. Unfortunately, many people lost their jobs and they are unable to pay a mortgage nor can they sell the property. The mortgage would still be in place even if the property could be sold. They do not know where to turn.

The situation is complicated and overwhelming in many cases. The scale and the legal implications mean there is no overnight solution. The mortgage is a debt to be paid yet the taxpayers bailed out the banks. There needs to be a finely calibrated response to mortgage debt because each person's circumstances are different as is a person's ability to pay. In some cases there is no ability to pay. I agree with Deputy Buttimer's point about the family home. I refer to innovative approaches such as trade-down mortgages, split mortgages, mortgage-to-rent schemes.

The attitude to home ownership has not changed despite the economic crash; we like to own our own homes. In my view there is serious merit in allowing people to have 50-year loans. Most loans are between 20 and 30 years. People want to be able to hold on to their homes and to repay the mortgage at an affordable rate. This was done in the case of the promissory notes. The home may well be inherited by the following generation and this is already happening. I suggest that this may be a solution to allow people to hold onto their homes.

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