Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister stated it would be in the finance Bill so let us see what is in it.

Tonight between 400,000 and 500,000 people will sleep in family homes where the mortgage is in some level of arrears. Alongside unemployment it is the single greatest economic and social challenge we face in the State. They received a cursory mention in the Minister's speech. The issue was glanced over, and it was clearly a box-ticking exercise for whoever wrote the speech that a mention was given to mortgage arrears. However there was nothing new in it. The Government's response to the crisis so far has been to give the banks more power, to allow them repossess homes more easily and quickly, and to dilute key protections borrowers have had.

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