Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the motion and the debate. There is a major problem nationally of people having difficulties with mortgages and banks failing to address the situation. We see it right around the country even when people make an effort to go to the bank and resolve things. Even if there is a middle person, there is real pressure on the homeowner trying to resolve the issue, but the banks go in with two sides to their story. The banks can listen or walk away. This situation cannot continue. I have seen instances including one close to my home where a family was put out of their home by a bank. The Department of Social Protection had to provide funding to the family to rent a house week by week. Some two to three months later when the house from which they were evicted was sold, I calculated that it could have been paid for with what the Department would provide in payments over four to five years. This is the tragedy that is happening nationally. I have seen houses sold by banks for €20,000 and €30,000 which is the equivalent of social welfare payments of €100 or €120 per week over four or five years.

One has to look at what the people have done for the banks. They bailed out the banking system to the tune of €64 billion. When it comes to dealing with those in difficulties - those who saved them - the banks now walk all over them. The 20% deposit requirement for home buyers who want to take out a mortgage will be difficult to meet in many parts of the country. This figure needs to be brought down to at least 10% to allow young people back into the property market. We need to ensure that in Dublin and other places where house prices are crawling up again a property bubble does not recur and that we will not be back at square one where we were several years ago.

Once the banks had been bailed out, they decided to desert smaller towns, leaving people having to travel up to 20 miles to conduct their banking. The only financial institutions that took up the slack were credit unions, the small people’s bank. They have a lot of money in different parts of the country which they cannot lend for the simple reason that when they lodge moneys in the main banks, they are charged a rate of 0.1%, which is a total disgrace. The Central Bank has introduced a massive amount of regulations for them, some of which needs to be relaxed. While I accept that there was under-regulation in the banking sector during the years, sadly we have moved to the other extreme, as is always the case in this country, with no in-between.

I hope the Government will take the motion on board to make the banks realise that they must face up to matters, sooner or later, and that a debt should not follow a person. They will not tell those who are trying to sell houses if they will come after them. I hope this matter will be addressed, too.

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