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

The Government has always been clear that we would ensure mortgage holders retained the protection of the CCMA. We also made clear that we fully expected that any purchaser of the IBRC mortgage portfolio would service the loan books in accordance with the CCMA. This expectation has been met in recent days with the conclusion of the sale of the IBRC mortgage portfolio. The two purchasers of the residential mortgage loans, Loanstar and Oaktree, have both committed to servicing these books in accordance with the terms of the Central Bank's code of conduct on mortgage arrears, CCMA.

The Department's legislative programme includes the sale of loan books to unregulated third parties Bill, which will address concerns surrounding the continued applicability of the Central Bank's CCMA after loan books are sold to unregulated entities. In preparation for this legislation, my officials have been considering how best to ensure that the protections under the CCMA and other codes continue to apply when a loan book is sold to an unregulated entity. The complexities of this issue have been discussed at meetings with officials in the Central Bank, and the Attorney General's office has been kept informed of progress. Draft heads of the legislation have been sent to the Central Bank for its consideration in advance of more detailed engagement with the Attorney General's office. I do not consider it appropriate to discuss the details of these draft heads now, because we are at a very preliminary stage and the heads have not been cleared from a legal viewpoint. However, I hope that whatever changes are made will also include giving these mortgage holders access to the Financial Services Ombudsman.

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