Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá géarchéim ann i dtaca le morgáistí ar fud na tíre. Sin an fáth go bhfuilim ag tabhairt tacaíocht don PMB seo. Tá sé an-tábhachtach ar fad.

As Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson, I welcome the motion by Members of the Technical Group on this important issue which lamentably remains a major problem and a cause of much heartache, stress and hardship for families up and down the country.

This is a simple and clear motion which I am disappointed the Government will not be accepting it. Once again the Government has instead sought to gut the motion and force us to vote on an amendment which is more focused on giving praise to the Government than reflecting on the ongoing problems and seeking a resolution.

The mortgage crisis is still unfolding. People who lost their jobs, whose hours or pay were cut and who sank into negative equity, still to this day struggle to keep their home or to see a way out of crippling debt. This is despite an improvement in some of their circumstances.

In June this year, the Central Bank released its latest figures on mortgage arrears. The statements surrounding this release were grim to say the least. They outlined the fact that we are currently facing a catastrophe for those in arrears in the future if something is not done.

Some 35,314 mortgage accounts were found to be in arrears by two years or more, resulting in outstanding balances of €7.4 billion. This was a rise of 5.1% on the previous quarter. In more understandable terms the average arrears for these accounts rose by €5,000 to €46,000.

While restructuring figures could be spun as being somewhat encouraging, campaigners made the point that mortgages were being cherry-picked for restructuring which does not bode well for future figures and those in most distress.

Over 3,000 repossession applications were made in the first quarter of 2014 with no reason to believe that this rate has not continued throughout the year. A major crisis already unfolding within the wider mortgage crisis is that of the buy-to-let market. In February 2013, I had a Topical Issue debate on this subject taken by the former Minister of State, Brian Hayes. I was calling for a binding code of conduct for the buy-to-let market in a situation where tenants are in danger of losing their home due to mortgage arrears or repossession. It was clear at the time and still is that some people taking control of properties have no interest in acting as landlords and so are more than happy to remove tenants from repossessed homes.

Since the end of the moratorium on repossessions, this has put families out on the street. These families were good tenants who paid their rent on time - often rent which was totally unjustifiable based on the quality of the property and in excess of the mortgage repayment owed each month.

The Minister of State's response at the time was to quote a reply he had been handed. It completely ignored the issue. This has been the policy of the Government ever since. People continue to lose their homes. This code of conduct is still badly needed and I once again call on the Government to act on this.

Last night my colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, told of how the Government had ignored the work of the Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform in developing a detailed report on possible measures to tackle the mortgage crisis. This report had all-party support and was born out of wide-ranging and comprehensive engagement with all manner of stakeholders.

The Government's amendment to the motion before us is a restatement of its desire to ignore the issue or to engage with anyone on it outside of a few Cabinet Ministers. Is it any wonder that people are so angry at this Government? Is it any wonder they feel so utterly betrayed by it? The Government has certainly blown a lot of hot air at the banks for their failure to engage properly in providing a solution. However, the Government has certainly not done anything to make the banks listen or force them to address the problems.

The report to which Deputy Doherty referred made it clear that the Central Bank must be firm with the banking industry that repossession and eviction are not sustainable solutions and they will not be accepted. Instead, the Government has responded to the banks' position with not much more than disinterest. The Government has sat by as families have lost their homes and its amendment shows that it intends to do little else in future. The Government hopes this problem will just go away, but it will not.

The motion from the Technical Group rightly states that a code of conduct on mortgage arrears is not working. It is weak and without a statutory footing. Before they can take legal action, banks should be bound to offer all of the options laid out by the code of conduct. This was an important part of the report by the Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform.

In cases where a home is repossessed, those who have lost their home should be cleared of their debt to the lender. Failing to do this is simply cruel and leaves those who have lost almost everything without any hope at all.

While I am outlining Sinn Féin's policy on these matters, I am also speaking in line with the all-party report of the Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, which I urge the Government to revisit. Or maybe the Government should take a first look at it, as it would seem that Ministers have never heard of it.

The mortgage to rent scheme must also be reformed so as to be more accessible and more effective. At present it has been described as unworkable and a miserable failure. It is a good idea put into practice in a pathetically limited model.

In June 2014, it had succeeded in getting just 40 homes purchased. Mr. David Hall of the Mortgage Holders' Organisation called it "rubbish". The scheme does not put enough pressure on lenders to engage. It limits too tightly the value of homes which can be entered into the scheme. It also puts in front of any potential applicant a long road of hoops to jump through, so that they might in the end remain in a home they no longer own.

A review of this scheme must take place. The Government must recognise that its application has so far failed to meet the needs of those it seeks to help, or to move on reform. This scheme could save families from eviction and provide AHBs and local authorities with extra rent revenue. In the long term it could provide an asset which becomes part of the hopelessly inadequate social housing stock.

The Government's performance on the mortgage crisis has been inadequate and limp-wristed at best. At worst, its inaction has put families out of their homes while banks do as they please.

I commend this motion to the House and call on the Government to wake up to the reality that this crisis is not going away and requires immediate attention and strong decisive action. This motion contains some of what is needed as well as the report by the Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform that I have already mentioned. Some of the leg work has been done. It is now up to the Government to tackle the problem from the side of the thousands of families struggling to keep their homes however they can.

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