Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Private Members' business and welcome and support the many practical measures proposed to address the mortgage arrears crisis. A reading of any of the statistics relating to mortgage arrears in Ireland today is truly frightening. To give an overview of the situation, seven of every ten residential mortgage holders who are behind on their repayments are in long-term arrears. Of those, 37,778 are in arrears of two years or more. According to the Central Bank's own data, 31,000 homeowners have been threatened with repossession by the six main banks. The latest figures from the Department of Finance show that 70%, or seven out of ten, homeowners who are three months or more in arrears have yet to reach a deal with their banks to get back on track. These statistics clearly illustrate the severity and the reach of this problem, which is not going away.

There is no doubt that thousands of families fear losing their family homes. The fear is palpable and traumatic and has given rise to very serious illnesses including mental health issues for individual family members. People fear even the sight of the postman in case he has the dreaded letter from the bank demanding the sale or repossession of the family home. Indeed, I have a copy of such a letter with me, which it might be worth reading from briefly. It is a letter of the type which is sent out under the code of conduct on mortgage arrears and the options it gives are voluntary sale or a thing called "voluntary surrender"; in other words "repossession or eviction". It goes on to state

In all of the options above, please note that in the event of a shortfall you remain liable for the outstanding debt including accrued interest, charges, legal, selling and other related costs. We will always seek the gross sale proceeds and a certified copy of the unconditional contract for sale.

It goes on further to state:

While we note that forbearance is not appropriate, if the repayments due are not met and arrears accumulate on the mortgage, regrettably this account may be referred to our solicitors for collection of this debt.

In other words, "you will be evicted". The sad fact is that up to 30,000 families face eviction due to the failure of the Government to protect them. These are families who do not qualify for insolvency procedures as they have no or insufficient disposable income. They are people who have fully engaged with their lenders and are not strategic defaulters. Their only assets are their family homes. They hold modest mortgages, many of which are under €100,000, and almost all of which are under €200,000. In the main, they are low-income families headed by unemployed persons. They are in this position through no fault of their own. They took out mortgages when employed to put roofs over the heads of their families and they now find themselves unemployed because of the reckless activity of the Irish elite, including the Central Bank, the banks, the Government and their cheerleaders in the media.

There is no doubt that the measures that have been put in place to deal with the crisis are simply not working. Some of those have been mentioned already, including the insolvency system which needs to be overhauled. The insolvency guidelines must be changed and the bank veto must be withdrawn and an independent arbitration put in place. The mortgage to rent scheme is excellent in principle but it is simply not working as the banks will not allow it to. This is a scheme which allows people to remain in their family homes, becoming tenants of voluntary housing agencies with the option to repurchase the home if times get better and they become employed. The whole question of the write-down of mortgages to current levels of valuation must also be addressed. The motion is a practical one. It may not go far enough to solve the problem, but it certainly puts in place procedures and practical steps which go in the right direction. I support the motion.

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