Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We have asked each bank to report to the Minister for Finance by the end of April. That issue is in hand and we do not need any encouragement from Sinn Féin on it. We have made clear from the beginning of the lifetime of this Government that our objective was to enable people to continue to live in their own homes. Many households and families who have big mortgages that they cannot afford to pay must resolve that issue with the financial institutions concerned. We have put in place an architecture to enable householders and mortgage holders to do that effectively. It includes the radical change in the personal insolvency process, enacted by this House and brought in by this Government, which reduces the period of time for which people are considered personally insolvent to three years. That is a radical change. Second, we have put in place a non-judicial settlement arrangement so that people who are already in mortgage distress do not have to incur high legal costs, the cost of going to court and all of that. They can settle their mortgage problems reasonably with their financial institutions.

Since the beginning of this year 8,000 people who had been in mortgage distress have concluded such settlements with their financial institutions under the new arrangements. We want to see more of that because we estimate that there are approximately 100,000 households in mortgage distress at one level or another. These households need to be able to conclude an arrangement with their banks so that they can get on with their lives. The arrangements are in place to do that. The Government will keep a close watch on how that progresses. Our position is that we are on the side of those householders who cannot pay because of either job losses or business and financial difficulties and we want them to settle this with their banks so that they can move on with the rest of their lives. Progress is being made. The emphasis is on making sure we resolve the problem for householders in mortgage distress. I am glad that so far this year 8,000 have managed to achieve settlements. We want to see more of this and I encourage the banks and financial institutions to do more of it, to do it more quickly and to enable people to get on with their lives.

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