Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will share time with my colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty.

Yesterday, on introducing this legislation, the Minister for Justice and Equality told the Dáil it is necessary that our legal system provides, and is seen to provide, processes which work properly to give effect to a lender's age-old right to repossess where there is serious default. To reinforce his point, the Minister, Deputy Shatter, reminded Members that when introducing the original land and conveyancing law Bill, Fianna Fáil clearly determined that the repossession arrangements which had existed for centuries should remain in place. Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are at one in their shared commitment in ensuring this so-called age-old right of financial institutions is guaranteed above all else. There is no real surprise there as Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are cut from the same cloth.

Deputy Micheál Martin was to the fore in Fianna Fáil's decision to sign up to the troika deal. He was the man who agreed to a property tax, a water tax, cuts to Garda numbers and massive reductions in public sector numbers and public sector pay. I could go on. Deputy Micheál Martin championed every regressive step his Government took, but only after he and his colleagues had brought this State to its knees. Fine Gael, having been elected by the people on the promise of reform, decided instead simply to implement Deputy Martin's austerity agenda, where private finance trumps the public interest every time. And what of the Labour Party? What happened to the aspirations of the democratic programme, which affirmed that all right to private property must be subordinated to the public right and interest? What would Tom Johnson think of the Labour Party now? Doing all it can to ensure families stay in their homes and have sufficient resources to care for their children should be the number one priority of the Government, and the Labour Party in particular.

It is fair to say this legislation merely deals with an unplanned loophole. However, it is this anomaly which has kept families in their homes during a crisis that has yet to abate. This unforeseen loophole has protected pre-December 2009 home owners from the financial sector's most aggressive tactics and has prevented banks seeking unjust repossessions. Let us be clear about the very simple objective of this legislation. This so-called tidying-up exercise achieves one simple goal, which is that the Government is making it easier for the banks to repossess family homes. The pattern continues, as Fianna Fáil devised the plan, leaving Fine Gael and the Labour Party to implement it. Of course, this legislation cannot be viewed in isolation. It is part and parcel of a Government strategy which hands back the State's limited power to protect family homes from the financial sector. Once upon a time banks gaveth through reckless lending and now they will taketh away with punitive repossessions.

One in four family homes is in mortgage distress. This amounts to 198,000 homes, with hundreds of thousands of parents and children living day in, day out under a cloud of anxiety and fear. Unemployment remains high. The Government, which is the State's biggest employer, has already shed 30,000 jobs and plans to cut another 10,000 over the coming years. Health, education and social protection services, the very services low-income families rely on simply to get by, are being slashed with every quarterly budget review. The long-awaited personal insolvency scheme of Fine Gael and the Labour Party does not offer the type of protections necessary to shield families from unfair banking practices and, more importantly, neither does it protect the wider public good. When and if a family is forced out of its home, it might well benefit private finance, but the State will pick up the tab and the family will pick up the pieces of its broken hopes and dreams.

Sinn Féin submitted a significant number of constructive and progressive amendments to the personal insolvency scheme. Our amendments made business sense for banks and offered sensible protections for families and individuals. We argued very strongly against the bank veto because there is no incentive for banks to engage with the personal insolvency process in a fair and reasonable manner in advance of repossession. The code of conduct works against the mortgage holder and there are clearly insufficient protections for families experiencing severe mortgage distress. In addition, there is not sufficient scope in the legislation for the courts to assess whether the banks are acting reasonably or responsibly.

Sinn Féin has called for an independent body to force banks to accept reasonable arrangements on a case-by-case basis. We have real concerns about the role of the personal insolvency practitioners. Yesterday, when speaking on the legislation, my colleague, Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, set out our concerns that by choosing the private sector route, personal insolvency practitioners will cherry-pick the cases with greater opportunities to make money, meaning those in greatest need will be left to fend for themselves. It is our strong view that MABS should have been the appointed practitioner. It is a respected mediator of long standing and, critically, it is trusted. MABS has an established network and is, in real terms, best placed to work with citizens experiencing debt distress.

Women, particularly single women with children, will continue to be among those citizens worst affected. For decades Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour Party Governments have failed to deliver an affordable child care system. Women still disproportionately populate modestly paid work in the public and private sectors. A total of 91% of nurses are women, as are 88% of primary school teachers. Women make up 75% of clerical officers in the public service, who start off on a salary of €22,000. Lone parents are being forced back into the workplace when their children reach seven years of age, regardless of whether they can afford child care or not. Child benefit has been cut, affecting low and middle income families in particular.

Inequality is deepening under the watch of Fine Gael and the Labour Party.

In that regard, handing over the kind of powers to banks that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour have decided on and are implementing will only make this very bad situation utterly unbearable for many citizens.

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