Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an rún seo agus ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil don Grúpa Teicniúil as é a fhoilsiú.

It is mind-boggling that despite four years in government, Fine Gael and the Labour Party continue to fail struggling families. As of last month, there were some 7,100 civil bills for repossessions throughout this State, some 564 of which were lodged in my county of Meath. Behind each one of these is a real family with a story. It is impossible to over-emphasise the fear, worry and stress tens of thousands of families are experiencing in their daily lives because of this issue.

A home is a primary need. If people do not have a home, it is difficult for them to have the other necessities for a good quality of life. It is difficult for families to ensure the education and mental health of their children are at optimum levels. It is difficult to maintain their physical health. Many people who have come to my office in mortgage distress have indicated their lives are starting to fall apart as a result of this issue. Time and again Sinn Féin has raised the issue of the urgent need for struggling borrowers to be provided with independent financial expertise free of charge by the banks. In many instances, the banks are not dealing with people with mortgages honourably.

The cases of approximately 100 people dealing with mortgage distress are on my books currently. Some of the banks are dealing correctly with these people. AIB is one of the better banks in this regard. However, banks such as Permanent TSB have a chequered record. Some staff do amazing work, but others seem to take a lackadaisical call centre approach. One pensioner couple I know has tried to engage with the bank at every stage, but this couple has had to deal with approximately ten different people, all of whom have delivered different information and gathered information inconsistently. Some of this information has been incorrect and some of it has stalled the process and jeopardised a resolution.

This family was told they were not suitable for the particular solutions, although they were, and they were told to submit standard financial statements. Although they did so, it is alleged they were never received. When the family went to the financial services ombudsman, legal processes were initiated that had the effect of stopping the ombudsman from investigating the complaint.

I know a Meath farmer in his late fifties who bought a house in Mayo with a view to doing it up, moving to the property and selling his own house. His finances went into a dive in a very short period. He went into four months of arrears, amounting to €2,000, and his house was forcibly sold, leaving a debt of €80,000. It is absolutely unacceptable that a bank would partake in such activity. I know another businessman who went into serious debt and, outside the mortgage distress area, did his best to negotiate with the banks so that the jobs and business could be saved. I called the bank and asked if he could negotiate with officials but they indicated they would accept only written offers. The bank said "No" to all the offers he delivered. This businessman alleges that his debt has been sold to a third party for less than the offers he made. I ask the Minister to investigate those allegations.

We support the proposition of the motion that we need a definition of what constitutes a sustainable solution from the borrower's perspective. The reality is that the Central Bank holds a view that there is a strong pipeline of sustainable solutions. The Central Bank's supervisory engagement on mortgage arrears update published earlier this month noted that relying on quarterly solution targets across all banks is no longer appropriate. As a result, it has written to each bank, setting out new requirements, concluding that sustainable solutions should be in place for the majority of distressed borrowers by the end of 2015. To my mind, the fundamental problem with the existing definition of a sustainable solution is that it is far too wide and it allows a bank, for example, to count an eviction as a solution. That is regardless of the cost to the family or State.

The Minister for Finance has told us he is opposed to the use of evictions as a solution and the cross-party report of the Joint Committee on Finance and Public Expenditure on the mortgage arrears resolutions process set out a number of sustainable recommendations to support struggling mortgage holders. As is often the case, this Government's actions do not match its words. As a result, back in the real world banks are still allowed to treat legal actions as solutions. Likewise, positive measures in the Central Bank's code of conduct on the mortgage arrears suite of solutions languish as the banks are under no obligation to offer them. They can pick and choose the approach that suits their strategic interests.

We support the Members' call on the Government to amend the personal insolvency legislation to reduce the bankruptcy period to one year until the mortgage arrears issue is resolved. This would bring us into line with the Six Counties and simply rebalance the relationship between the mortgage holder and the bank. Through this entire process, the problem has been that the power firmly lies with the bank. So far, we have had a Government of the banks, for the banks and by the banks. We must ensure that at the heart of the Government's approach is the citizen. We agree that the Insolvency Service of Ireland should be empowered and that the courts should consider its proposals. This month, the Central Bank issued instructions for full and appropriate engagement in the process as set out in the Personal Insolvency Act 2012. It is clear as the nose on one's face that this legislation falls far short of what is required to rebalance the relationship.

Land and conveyancing legislation should be also amended. My colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, introduced an amending Bill last year which the Government roundly rejected. We proposed empowering the courts to consider any proposal from the home owner in making a decision on repossession. The legislation explicitly dealt with the issue of residual debts and placed the cost of the process on the bank. We also support processes such as the mortgage-to-rent scheme, but examples of this are as rare as a hen's teeth. I spent the past two to three years sitting down with families in massive distress going through the process of the mortgage-to-rent scheme but, in reality, it does not exist for such people. Representatives of AIB came before a committee last week and told us the bank has processed zero mortgage-to-rent scheme cases fully so far. We are four years into this and the State bank has processed zero mortgage-to-rent scheme cases, which is an example of the lack of urgency that this Government has demonstrated in this crisis.

Since this Government took the reins of office, there has been a consistent strand in its strategy in dealing with mortgage distress. It has taken a hands-off approach in dealing with the banks and, as a result, it has facilitated the banks' unjust treatment of struggling home owners, including repossession of the family home. Just a few weeks ago, the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation warned that the country was "sleepwalking" into a repossession crisis. Research provided by the economist Seamus Coffey indicates that repossession orders issued had more than quadrupled in the first nine months of 2014, compared with the same period in 2013. If the Government means business and the home owner, citizen and struggling family is at the centre of the Government's policy and process, it must take the bull by the horns. If the Government fails to do so, we will have a tsunami of repossessions that will lead to a massive housing crisis. We already have a significant housing problem but this is likely to exacerbate this two-fold or three-fold.

Last Christmas this House was enflamed by the tragic death of a homeless individual a few metres away from Leinster House. As of today, my county council has not received any funding for the building of houses to deal with the 700 families who have made their homelessness apparent to the council recently, or the 4,000 people on the homeless list. We must ensure this human crisis is tackled properly and that the relationship between the mortgage holder and the bank can be rebalanced. This will ensure that people can stay in their houses.

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