Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We set targets and I am satisfied that the Central Bank has advised me that the targets are being met. The quantum of permanent restructuring is increasing each quarter. The latest information available to me indicates that 54,000 mortgagees have had proposals for permanent restructuring. That is progress. The details of whether the restructuring holds up when audits are carried out by the banks concerned obviously give rise to issues. The Deputy will have an opportunity to consider the details from the banks' perspective when their representatives come before the joint committee.

It is an exaggeration to say a primary tool of restructuring is repossession. For example, the Department of Justice and Equality has advised the Department of Finance that the number of new civil bills issued for the first two months of 2014 is 450. The latest Central Bank statistics for the quarter ending 2013 show that legal proceedings were issued in 1,491 cases to enforce the debt security on a principal dwelling house.

The strong view of the Government is that, in respect of co-operating borrowers under the MARP, repossession of a person's primary home should only be considered as a last resort, and every effort should be made to agree a sustainable arrangement as an alternative to repossession. I am not satisfied that legal letters threatening proceedings against borrowers are satisfactory solutions, if that is the key point of Deputy Pearse Doherty's question.

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