Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

They crashed the economy as a result but the Government is now handing over the victims of the crash for further torture to the very people who caused it. Does the Taoiseach not see a massive irony, to say the least, in that?

Some of the outlined solutions, such as split mortgages, are simply a matter of maintaining in bondage home owners into old age and even passing on the debts to their children. Is it not the case that a bold policy is required in the interests of our people rather than the financial markets? It should write down generally to today's prices the level of blackmail mortgage debt that people were forced to take, calibrate downwards monthly mortgage payments and give security to the people now in distress. It should also release hundreds of millions of euro per year into the domestic economy that would otherwise go into dead banks. It would be part of a process of rebooting the economy. Is that not the real issue? Has the Cabinet committee even discussed the IBRC mortgages or will the matter be discussed urgently in order to change the Government's implemented policy?

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