Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important issue on behalf of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, and to set out recent developments in this area.

There is no doubt that some families across the country are experiencing genuine difficulties in meeting their monthly mortgage repayments. The Government is fully aware of the impact this is having on these families and their lives. As the Minister said previously, we cannot have a situation where some families are living under the stress of mortgage arrears, unable to enjoy even a modest standard of living and excluded from participating in the economy and effectively living their lives because of their debt problem. It is important to note, however, that there are relationship frameworks in place with the State owned banks which preclude the State from intervening in the day-to-day operations of the banks or their management decisions.

The Government has developed a comprehensive cross-departmental strategy to support households in arrears, in line with the main recommendations of the 2011 Keane report. The primary focus of the strategy is to support those homeowners in difficulty with their mortgage repayments. The implementation of the strategy is overseen at Government level by the Construction 2020, housing, planning and mortgage arrears sub-committee which is chaired by the Taoiseach and at official level by a mortgage arrears steering group which is chaired by the Department of Finance. The Government's strategy is built around the four pillars for action as recommended in the Keane report. These are: engagement with the banks to develop appropriate measures for their customers in mortgage arrears; personal insolvency law reform and implementation; mortgage to rent; and a mortgage advisory function. A number of key measures have been advanced in this regard. It is worth noting, however, that of the 760,238 private residential mortgage accounts for principal dwelling houses, PDH, in the Republic of Ireland, some 117,889 accounts or 15.5% were in arrears at the end of September.

The Government has provided an enhanced range of information and guidance services for mortgage holders, including a dedicated information website, a mortgage arrears information and advice helpline and the provision of independent financial advice for mortgage holders who are being presented with long-term mortgage resolution proposals by their lenders. This advice is provided by qualified accountants drawn from members of the main accountancy institutes in Ireland who have agreed to participate and support this independent service. We must encourage people to avail of this service. Like the Deputy, I am dealing with clients who are not engaging fully with the service and who have been offered solutions but who require proper advice. They should avail of the service, if they can.

The Central Bank has put many protections in place to ensure people in mortgage arrears are treated fairly by the banks, including the code of conduct on mortgage arrears, CCMA, and the mortgage arrears resolution process, MARP. The key indicator of success in dealing with mortgage arrears is the development and application, where appropriate, of long-term solutions. In March 2013 the Central Bank published the mortgage arrears resolution targets, or MART framework, which set out the performance targets for mortgage arrears resolution at six mortgage lenders - AIB, Bank of Ireland, permanent tsb, Ulster Bank, KBC Bank Ireland and the ACC. Under this rolling process, quarterly performance targets have been set to require the banks to propose and put in place durable long-term solutions to address individual cases of mortgages in difficulty where the mortgage is more than 90 days in arrears. In that context, the Deputy will be aware that the Central Bank set progressive targets in 2013 and throughout 2014 for banks in respect of the numbers of proposed and concluded mortgage restructure arrangements. The most recent information from the Central Bank is in respect of the end of September 2014 targets and proposed solutions and indicates that the banks have exceeded their targets under the three headings.

The MART initiative has resulted in significant numbers of long-term restructured arrangements being put in place. At the end of March 2013, when the MART targets were set, Central Bank statistics showed that 79,600 restructures were in place for principal dwelling houses; at the end of September 2014, this number had increased to almost 110,000 restructures. There is some progress, but I accept that not everybody is getting the solutions he or she needs. The Central Bank's latest mortgage arrears and restructures publication for the end of the third quarter of 2014 shows that the number of mortgage accounts for principal dwelling houses in arrears fell for the fifth consecutive quarter. That is slightly different from the information the Deputy has provided, but we can reconcile the figures, if he wishes. However, there has been a decrease. A total of 80% of the PDH mortgage accounts classified as restructures were deemed to be meeting the terms of their current restructuring arrangement, which is a significant achievement for all involved. I hope that will progress.

The Deputy referred to a case regarding the mortgage to rent scheme. Perhaps he might forward the details because it does not sound like the way the scheme is supposed to be administered. I will have it checked for him.

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