Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the mortgage crisis. The Technical Group raised the mortgage crisis on Private Members' business in April 2011. At that stage, it was obvious to everybody on this side of the House that there was a crisis. It has only deepened since. Today, 142,000 family home mortgages are in arrears, of which 54,000 are in arrears of 12 months or more. It is a sure sign of the Government's inaction over the last two years. It has failed to ensure that banks deal with their customers in a fair and reasonable manner and to prevent the crisis getting to the stage it is at now.

The Government has said it is demanding action from the banks, yet it has done nothing to ensure they act to protect their customers and look after the people to whom they sold mortgages. It is clear the banks are calling all the shots. In all its dealings with the banks, the Government has asked them what they wanted done and then gone ahead and done it. It has introduced a Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill to remove a legal loophole which prevented the banks from repossessing homes. It has removed the 12 month embargo on the banks taking action where someone enters a mortgage arrears resolution process. The Government has removed the bar on more than three contacts by a bank with a customer within a month and provided a veto to banks on insolvency arrangements where such arrangements do not match a bank's wishes. The Government has provided the banks with a power to extend the period in which a person remains in an insolvency process for a further five years. If people are lucky enough to turn their lives around and see some light at the end of the tunnel, the banks can step in to ensure they stay in the process for a further period.

That is all the Government has done to address the crisis. It must begin to look at the people who are struggling, look after their interests and stop looking after the interests of the banks.

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