Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank every Deputy who contributed to the debate over the past two nights. I am sure we all agree that we are elected to this House to do what we regard as the right thing. I have no doubt whatsoever that if the Whip was not applied tonight, this Fianna Fáil Private Members' Bill would pass with overwhelming support. If I was generous, the reasons cited by the Government for not accepting the Bill are flimsy, but if I was honest and realistic, the reasons cited are nothing short of pathetic.

The Taoiseach said yesterday during Leaders' Questions that the Fianna Fáil Bill was unconstitutional. The Minister gave a very detailed response last night and said nothing of the kind. The furthest she went was to say one aspect of the Bill might engage constitutionally protected rights. That is entirely different from what the Taoiseach said during Leaders' Questions yesterday. The essential premise of the Government is that if a bank owns 34% of one's debt, it has no veto, but that if it owns 36%, not giving it a veto would be unconstitutional. When I read the Constitution, I certainly do not see this in it. It is absolute nonsense. The only constitutional rights the Government is seeking to protect are the constitutional rights of the banks because it is certainly not seeking to protect those of ordinary families. If constitutional change is required to bring about this change and enact the Bill to protect family homes, let us make it. Two referendums will be held on 23 May. There is a perfect opportunity to put this question to the people if the Government was interested in protecting family homes.

I am ashamed, as a person and a Member of this House, at the manner in which some of the banks are treating people. I mention people's physical and mental health. People are under enormous stress and going to bed every night wondering whether another threatening letter will arrive the following day or if there will be a move towards repossession proceedings. I mention the numbers of suicides and families divided. People are absolutely distraught and coming to our clinics every week with stories about how they are being treated by the banks. The Bill is about protecting the family home, not mansions in Killiney which are caught up in a complex web of commercial debt. It is about protecting ordinary homes for ordinary people who are under extraordinary pressure.

Let me contrast how ordinary people are treated by the Government with the way private equity funds, or so-called vulture funds, are treated by it. Does the Minister of State know how many times the Minister for Finance and his officials have met representatives of private equity funds since beginning of last year? They have met representatives of vulture funds no fewer than 28 times, including Apollo, Lone Star and Soros. I could name all of them. How many times has the Government met ordinary people? They will get a hearing at a constituency office from the sympathetic Deputy, the very same Deputy who will come into the House tonight and copperfasten the power of the veto the Government has given to the banks. That is the reality. It is also the reality that the Government does not know how many mortgages it has allowed to be sold to private equity funds with no statutory protection being afforded to these mortgage holders. The Minister said it could be approximately 16,000, but we do not know. People have been left in limbo and a legal no man's land and we are all hearing about the situations that arise as result.

The two major responses of the Government to the mortgage crisis have been failures. The Insolvency Service of Ireland is not dealing with the issue of mortgage debt in a satisfactory way and the mortgage arrears target programme has been hijacked by the banks because they are allowed to define a sustainable solution and use a threatening legal letter as a sustainable solution. The Bill is not perfect, but it is an honest effort to address what is a huge social crisis. The Minister of State might be interested to know, in putting forward his version of the repossession statistics, that for every house lost by way of a repossession order, three family homes are lost by way of voluntary surrender or a voluntary sale forced on a family by the banks. The Government's answer seems to be to force people down the bankruptcy road. Under no circumstances should ordinary people in mortgage arrears have to become bankrupt to extricate themselves from a mortgage arrears problem. The bank veto must be brought to an end. The Government mistakenly gave the banks the power of veto under the Insolvency Service of Ireland. That is one of the reasons it is not working and this is the time to remove it.

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