Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill tonight, not to provide people with false hope, as Deputy Buttimer said, but to provide them with some hope. Deputy Michael McGrath has been engaged with this issue over a number of years. For the last four years, it has been one of the topics I have held closest to my heart. I come from the younger generation most affected by negative equity and loan arrears. At one time, Deputy Stephen Donnelly and I sat down to see if we could tackle this problem, but its enormity made it clear that it is best dealt with at Cabinet level where Civil Service support is available.

I am disappointed that it has come to this. We have done the State a disservice and there are better aspects of society. If we are talking about protecting the family unit, the home must be an integral part of that. We should not get carried away with what we have done on this as there is a huge problem of money that must be addressed to resolve the problem. There are some people living in PDHs where the house in question is far beyond their means. There is a very high profile case at the moment where the home is worth multimillions. I am not in favour of protecting just any home, but am particularly interested in cases where there are young children and the borrowers did nothing more than what we all aspire to do, which is put a house over the heads of our families. So many people have been left financially and mentally pressurised and, in some cases, without jobs. The numbers are of an avalanche scale, but they have not crashed just yet.

Delving into my inner cynic, I can say as a former banker that the banks have behaved in an appalling fashion to date.

See this speech in context