Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was ready to rise on a point of order because I had been advised that the Taoiseach was going to take Questions Nos. 1 to 22, inclusive, together. Since they cover a range of issues, I was going to tell the Taoiseach that he needed to answer them in a more definitive way. When he stated that he would take Questions Nos. 1, 6, 16 and 19 together, I was pleased for him until I got his answer.

The sub-committee on mortgage arrears, no matter how often it has met, is not grasping the fact that the personal insolvency service is deeply flawed and not fit for purpose and that many families in mortgage distress will be barred from using it. I am delighted that the Taoiseach quoted Sinn Féin's alternative budget two or three times. He may have noted that we provided for 100 extra publicly funded personal insolvency practitioners. They are necessary, as there are 185,201 residential mortgages in distress. Under the Taoiseach's governance, the number of families in distress has doubled.

I raised a matter with the Taoiseach last week. Grant Thornton Debt Solutions, one of the largest personal insolvency practitioners, carried out a study of 1,057 cases of mortgage distress. It concluded that only one in seven, some 14%, would avail of a personal insolvency arrangement and that 43% of families earned less than the level of reasonable living expenses set by the Insolvency Service of Ireland. Those families have nothing left with which to pay down their mortgage debts. Does the Taoiseach accept that, according to the analysis done by Grant Thornton Debt Solutions, this number of people have nothing left? If they have nothing left, how can they be expected to come out of mortgage distress?

The main problem is that the banks have been given a veto. I suggest that the Government should consider having an independent mortgage restructuring panel, one that has teeth, is appointed by the Minister and has the statutory power to agree and impose agreements on lending institutions where it believes that such agreements would enable mortgage holders to remain in their family homes. I commend this idea to the Taoiseach and ask him to respond positively.

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