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

I have met with far too many families whose mortgages were sold to vulture funds by this Government. The legislation to protect those families is still meandering through the process while the vultures move swiftly to cash in.

I commend Deputy Michael McGrath's Bill as a genuine effort to deal with the crisis, just as we put forward our Bill last April. I condemn the Government for its inaction and the approach it has taken. Mr. Ross Maguire raised the question today of how Irish society will deal with those in long-term mortgage arrears. Some 37,000 people have not been in a position to pay their mortgage in full for more than two years. Are we to evict them all? Should we evict half of them or some other fraction? The Minister has no answer to that question. The Government is in office for four years and it still has not given a pathway to families out of the debt under which they are suffering.

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