Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The consumer protection Bill is due later this year.

There are a range of criminal justice Bills in the course of preparation. I can give the Deputy an update on that. It might be appropriate to have a discussion on Northern Ireland, including the situation that applies now and elements of the past. We can arrange that through the Whips later.

As regards mortgage arrears and repossessions, clearly the Government does not want people to have their homes repossessed where that is preventable. I am not sure how many were actually approved yesterday. The Government is committed to bringing forward a further package of measures in April to deal with the mortgage position.

I am aware of the Bill put forward by Deputy Penrose to reduce the period of bankruptcy from three years to one year. The Government has not considered this as part of the overall package, but will give consideration to it. However, this is not a magic bullet to resolve matters. It does not apply in the case of mortgages because that is a secure debt.

The position must be considered that the banks would actually have a greater opportunity to have credit unions and everybody else shoved aside and would be able to acquire possession much faster and the mortgage would still remain. People who might assume that a reduction to one year of bankruptcy is some sort of panacea for all of these difficult problems need to be very careful about what it is that we actually implement here. The Government will consider a range of other measures and bring them here in April. It is in everybody's interest that there be engagement and that people hold onto their houses where that is at all possible.

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