Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When one considers the scale of the crisis, which affects more than 185,000 households, is the Taoiseach satisfied the committee on mortgage arrears is meeting sufficiently regularly? Were one to put together all those families, it would fill Croke Park five times. This demonstrates the seriousness of this profound crisis, in which one in four mortgages across the State is now in distress. I took the Personal Insolvency Bill on behalf of Sinn Féin and sat through approximately 14 or 15 hours of debate on it. Sinn Féin and others pressed repeatedly to remove the veto from the banks in that process because we thought the banks would not have the necessary compunction to do the right thing, that is, to engage and to be serious. Unfortunately, however, our attempts and amendments were rejected repeatedly. Consequently, the aforementioned Bill will be no panacea. I note the worrying messages, both domestically and internationally, that are asking banks here to go after families and to engage in repossessions.

As a west of Ireland man, the Taoiseach knows the scale of the crisis in his part of the world. During the recess, I spoke to many people in County Donegal about its impact and they are deeply concerned, particularly those who had worked in that sector and who best understand the scale of the extant personal debt crisis. Deputy Mathews, who is in the Chamber, warned a long time ago that this issue was as big a crisis as the issue of recapitalisation and bondholders. Now that we are getting to the problem, some sense of urgency and realism is needed within the Cabinet.

This takes me to my final set of questions, which pertain to the Economic Management Council and engagement with the banks. First, the Taoiseach has indicated the Government intends to reverse the Dunne judgment and will introduce amending legislation, including the land and conveyancing law reform Bill and so on. This is causing serious concern. For example, has the Government discussed with the banks the rate of repossessions it seeks? Is that the type of conversation it is having? Has the Government discussed the issue of debt write-downs or is the scope for so doing being discussed?

I wish to revisit the issue of lending to small businesses. As the Taoiseach is aware, the representative groups for small businesses have been telling Members repeatedly - as any Deputy would know from talking to people involved in small businesses - there is a real problem with getting a credit flow to them. This obviously would be of critical assistance to developing the economy across the State in particular, and I seek the Taoiseach's views in this regard. On the mortgage arrears crisis, how many times has the Economic Management Council met this year? Has the Government grasped the urgency of the scale of this crisis and how serious it would get were it to go after people in the manner suggested?

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