Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Bill puts forward a principle of negative equity of 110%, based on the Norwegian model. It is also constructive because it takes the bankers out of the pivotal position in which the Government has put them. That is what is radical and fundamental about this Bill. The Bill calls for more weight to be given to borrowers and a little less to bankers. Why does the Government consistently concede the final say to bankers? They are the ones who carry an equal, if not greater, responsibility for reckless lending. The emphasis in the Government’s thinking is that it is reckless borrowers who have to pay one way or the other. If one is going to play the blame game, it should go to the lender at least equally as to the borrower. However, this does not figure in the Government’s thinking because the veto still rests with the banks.

The noises coming from the Central Bank - and sometimes the Government, as happened with the Taoiseach this morning - are that it is on some sort of collision course with the banks which are running rings around it. They never collide, however. It is extraordinary how these noises have been made about mortgage arrears for the past five years but the number of arrears is going up with everyone dancing around each other but nothing happening.

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