Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to this important motion on the issue of the difficulties faced by thousands of family home owners in mortgage arrears due to the loss of employment and income as a result of the recession in the economy. I welcome the debate and commend my colleague, Deputy Joan Collins, for bringing forward the motion to highlight the issue and put forward sensible solutions to this urgent matter. I urge the Minister to take heed of some of the comments being put forward by my colleagues.

I challenge the Government and other political parties which seemed to spend a great deal of time in the last week attacking Independent Deputies. Some people seem to be suffering from independentitis. In particular, I refer to the former Minister, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, who is proved wrong by tonight's motion. Here we are putting forward positive and constructive proposals to deal with the very important matter of mortgage arrears. If the Government is really serious about reform, change and a democratic revolution, it will support the motion which puts forward sensible and constructive policies. It will be time tomorrow night at 9 p.m. to put up or shut up. We have had enough talk and incompetent leadership but above all we have had enough of delays for families in mortgage distress. It is important to make that point.

Let us deal with the real issues and proposals in tonight's motion. The existing code of conduct on mortgage arrears, or CCMA, whilst providing comprehensive instructions for creditors dealing with those in arrears, is not fit for purpose and does not provide necessary and important consumer protections. There is no provision within the code for lenders and mortgage servers to be mandated to provide necessary solutions for those in arrears which would prioritise safeguarding the family home. In fact, lenders have the ability to choose which solutions they like and ignore the ones that they do not. I agree therefore with the motion's call on the Minister for Finance to amend the CCMA to mandate all creditors and mortgage servers operating in the State, including lenders or mortgage servers not registered within the State, to offer one of the following solutions to those in mortgage arrears - a split mortgage with no interest payable on the warehoused portion; participation in a reformed mortgage-to-rent scheme; or certainty for any borrower in negative equity selling or surrendering a property as to how the residual debt will be dealt with prior to the sale or surrender of the property. These are the proposals we put forward tonight and they are also solutions. It is up to the Minister to look at them.

It is important to remind ourselves in discussing these issues that last week we had a great deal of talk about how we had just had the last of the austerity budgets. If one says that to the unemployed, disabled, lower-paid or those in mortgage arrears, they will say it must be a joke. The sad reality for them is horrific. Let us look at how these families were treated in the budget. We talk about equality and a progressive taxation system and we have had that debate in recent days over the water charges. Budget 2015 widened the rich-poor gap by €499 a year. It gave a 99 cent increase per week to an unemployed single person while providing €14.30 per week to a single person earning €75,000. This is what we are dealing with. In the case of couples, the unemployed got €1.50 per week, which is €78.52 per year extra, while a couple with two earners on €125,000 will receive an extra €23.57 per week, or €1,225 per year. That is what these families have to deal with and it is a disgrace. The budget does not reverse the situation and it does not prioritise people. It is a fourth regressive budget. Couples like those who are the subject of the motion with one income who are on €25,000 per year will be €3.34 per week better off while those on €50,000 per year will be €8.74 per week better off. Couples on two incomes coming to €25,000 per year will be €5.31 per week better off while those on €50,000 per year will be better off by €6.63 per week. I am pointing out the gaps.

I welcome the debate and the motion but it is important to dig deeper into the homes of the people we are discussing. We have seen 729 children in almost 400 families in Dublin alone lose the roofs over their heads this year. We also have the sad situation of 28.6% children living in poverty in the State, which is an increase from 18% in 2008. I emphasise that figure of 28.6%. I commend Deputy Joan Collins on an excellent motion and urge the Minister to listen. I urge all Deputies to support the proposals tomorrow night.

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