Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Everybody in Government is working for the people, the families, and those in mortgage distress and in arrears. The issue is of concern to all of us. In our offices, families and communities, every week since this crash has happened we encounter those who are in difficulty.

The economic crash has had a profound impact on the quality of the lives of so many. As I stated at the beginning, we are committed to restructuring and helping those in difficulty get their lives back. The priority of the Government is to restart the economy, create jobs and end the mortgage distress for so many citizens. That is why the Government enacted the Personal Insolvency Bill 2012 and established the Insolvency Service of Ireland to address the legitimate fears and concerns.

What is unacceptable is that banks are not engaging with homeowners. It is unacceptable, for example, that a bank, at ten to five on a Friday evening of a bank holiday weekend, rang a customer telling him he must repay his borrowings when the bank knew the family had no way of paying. Such persons must be allowed to remain living in and retain ownership of the family home. While we hear talk from the banks, and we read their advertisements in newspapers and hear their advertisements on television and radio, are the banks engaging with homeowners? I accept we must differentiate between those who are genuinely trying to pay their multiplicity of bills and keep their lives going and those who are abdicating their responsibility by not paying. As the Minister, Deputy Shatter, stated last night, our objective is to do everything on the development and introduction of various debt resolution processes.

I will conclude with one case that came to me only yesterday afternoon, where customers who engaged with Bank of Scotland Ireland and its agent Certus are waiting since June last for a reply. They have made numerous attempts to engage with the bank since then. They have been fobbed off with replies that the bank has no decision made and does not know, yet they get a letter stating that they owe X amount of money. The couple knew this and were trying to restructure, but the bank will not engage. The responsibility rests with the banks to engage properly and I would call on the banks to engage responsibly rather than irresponsibly with the home owners because this is about the family home. We must not allow a situation where lives are disrupted by the greed of a few.

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