Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with much of the Deputy's analysis. It has been a very difficult time for a group of people who borrowed to acquire family homes at the height of the Celtic tiger and who, for one reason or another, have found it very difficult to pay their mortgages. On top of that, they have found that the collateral underpinning the mortgage is not worth what it was when they borrowed. It is a very difficult situation for people and we are trying to work our way through it.

The people most adversely affected are those who lost their jobs - where one partner in a household lost a job or where there is no one at work in the household anymore. These are the people in most difficulty.

There is a whole variety of circumstances. We tried with the Keane report to design solutions which would accord with the differing circumstances. We are at a stage now where we think the Central Bank has taken a very strong interest in this and is driving the solutions forward. The revised code, which it has published and to which lenders and borrowers will hopefully adhere, hits the right note and hits the average. I hope the situation will be resolved but there will still be difficulties. It is very easy to pick out the most difficult case which goes to one's advice clinic. We all have such cases and we tend to get the more difficult ones but the solution must work on the averages as well. To have 25,000 proposals for solutions in the first quarter is pretty good and I will continue to drive it in so far as I have an influence over it to meet the targets. There is an answer on the data on solutions but I cannot find it in my brief. I will write to the Deputy about that.

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