Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome the Deputy's remarks. We are all in a new space since the passage of the personal insolvency legislation and the setting of very clear targets by the Government in March in terms of making progress. Both of us would agree that we need to make progress and this is one arm of the progress agenda which is being rolled out by the Central Bank. As the Deputy rightly pointed out, this is a pilot scheme which I hope will involve 750 cases. In any kind of pilot scheme we are learning and road-testing something, I hope as part of a wider scheme which needs to be rolled out for people in mortgage distress. This case is unique in that it is dealing with people with secured and unsecured debt. That is the kind of catch-all holistic approach, to which the Deputy referred, that we want to see.

On behalf of the Minister for Finance, I reiterate what the Deputy said. We want to see the Irish League of Credit Unions involved and that is the position of the Central Bank also. I hope some of the league's misgivings about the scheme thus far can be removed by way of discussions and participation. We need to learn from it as to how the scheme can be applied in a more exacting way to its requirements and customers who are crucial to a resolution of this issue. It might be useful if the contents of this debate and the very positive initiative the Deputy took in raising this issue were transmitted to the Central Bank and I will ensure that happens. It will, therefore, be aware of the Deputy's remarks and mine and those of the Department of Finance and of the need for constructive engagement with the Irish League of Credit Unions in order that there will be a positive outcome from this pilot scheme and that we can roll out a more far-reaching scheme into the future.

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