Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In most cases, they are solvable if people are prepared to work out a solution and a conclusion.

As Members are aware, individual banks have agreed a number of write-offs in the recent past. These agreements have received quite a deal of publicity. If Deputy Healy wants to get these details from the Minister for Finance, I suggest he submit a request to the Ceann Comhairle to raise this matter on Topical Issues. The overall position is that house repossessions should be the very end of the line.

The majority of house repossessions have taken place by voluntary consent or voluntary offering from the people involved. While there are occasional increases in the number of mortgages in distress or in arrears of more than 90 days, they are being worked out as time goes on. We want the target set for the banks by the Central Bank and the Government - that sustainable workable solutions should be offered by the end of the year to every mortgage holder in distress or in arrears - to be achieved. The policy here is that no instruction for house repossessions has been given. It should be a very last resort. In some of the cases I have read about, it was a very last resort. The banks involved made substantial write-downs, which allowed people to continue to live in their own houses and contribute to their local areas, etc.

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