Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The opening paragraph of the Fianna Fáil motion states there were 142,118 family home mortgages in arrears on 31 March 2013. That is a fact; the question is why.

The answer, of course, is that it is the legacy of the wait and see approach adopted by the previous Administration to this issue. In short, it did nothing. The Fianna Fáil Party has raised this issue more times during this Administration than it ever did during its time in government. The initial Cooney report was published on the day the Dáil began a summer recess. In November that year the final Cooney report was published, but the Government never facilitated a debate on the issues it raised. In fact, the only debates that took place under the previous Administration on the issue of mortgage arrears were those held in Private Members' time by the Opposition. The idea that there is any consistency in approach on the part of Fianna Fáil to this matter simply beggars belief.

The reason for the current pent-up situation in respect of mortgage arrears is, as I have outlined, the wait and see stance taken by the previous Administration. Fianna Fáil in government essentially broke the housing market. Deputy Michael McGrath recounted the case of a very distressed elderly person who was given a mortgage in circumstances in which it should never have been given. On the other hand, there were many people who could not obtain a mortgage during the period in question. I recall a weekend in April 2006 when I went knocking on doors in Donnybrook Hill, an area Deputy Michael McGrath knows well. I spoke to a young couple there, one of whom was working in a pharmaceutical company in Cork Harbour, a company which was known for paying good wages, while the other was a public servant. This couple were not earning enough to buy a house on the open market, but they were earning too much to be eligible for Cork County Council's affordable housing scheme, under which the average house price at the time was some €250,000. This was the same weekend that the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, made his famous comment that people should commit suicide instead of continuing to complain about the property market. It was as plain as day to me as I left that couple's home that the property market was bust. If first-time buyers cannot come into the market, the market is a fraud and will inevitably collapse. All markets are the same. If one buys a new car in the expectation of selling it in two years, there must be somebody who can buy it.

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