Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

AIB has made it clear that it will deal with the residual debt at the time of agreement. None of the other banks has. If the Minister of State was genuine in relation to his comments on the strain, stress and misery and on resolving this, he would support our genuine attempt to deal with it. Our proposal is supported by those on the front line. The Government should reconsider its position before we vote on this on Tuesday and allow the Bill to go to Committee Stage. The system is broken. This is one way to fix it in the most severe cases in which repossession is being threatened. There are many other issues to be fixed, including mortgage-to-rent arrangements. Sinn Féin will come at this not in an adversarial way but by trying to do what is best on behalf of the Irish people. We wish the Government would meet us halfway.

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