Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me raise this matter as a Topical Issue and I thank the Minister of State for attending the House today.

I am sure every Member of this House has been contacted by constituents who are in a distressed state due to mortgage arrears. It is a widely held view that the odds are stacked in favour of the banks and mortgage lenders and that there is a need for further protection for the mortgage consumer. I understand that more than 23,000 households are more than two years in arrears with their mortgages. I believe nobody should be asked to leave his or her home and that families should have the option of remaining in the home as tenants as a last resort. All solutions should be based on the borrower's net disposable income.

The Irish Brokers' Association and the Independent Mortgage Advisers' Federation responded last month to the consultation paper on the code of conduct on mortgage arrears and suggested a number of alternatives. They suggested that borrowers be given 60 days' notice rather than 30 days' notice, in the context of the Personal Insolvency Act, before a lender commences legal action. I also support the suggestion that borrowers should be able to contact a team of identifiable staff with dedicated phone lines instead of having to ring free or CallSave telephone numbers and wait in a long queue to get through, which further compounds their difficulties.

It has been pointed out that, unlike in the United Kingdom, VAT will be charged on personal insolvency practitioners' fees, which are ultimately added onto the mortgage. I urge that this be changed.

The Irish Brokers' Association and the Independent Mortgage Advisers' Federation have expressed concern about the appeals process and suggested that the Central Bank should investigate the rulings to date of the mortgage appeals boards. We need to know in what percentage of appeal cases for each bank the original decision of the bank was reversed in full, partially reversed and upheld.

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