Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government was perfectly clear that the statements made yesterday and today are not budgetary statements but they are realistic in setting out the parameters of the conversation we need to have in the Oireachtas about where we need the country to be and where we see it as far as 2020 and beyond. The spring statement is very clearly predicated on a set of policies that are working - and seen to be working - and if they were to be changed by any other party with an increase of corporation or income tax, the system would not work in the way we need it to for our people.

The Deputy mentioned two aspects relating to banks, distressed mortgages and variable mortgage interest rates. He also mentioned the relationship between the Government and banks. The Deputy knows that the Government does not set interest rates. There are a number of very serious problems with some mortgages in distress and there are serious problems with other mortgages still in arrears. Since the insolvency agency was established, the numbers being dealt with have not been as high as expected. Nonetheless, over 110,000 mortgage accounts were in arrears and there have been negotiated settlements between those debtors and the banks in a satisfactory fashion. That is a great relief for those people. As I indicated before, the Government next week hopes to bring in a number of other options for dealing with these other cases that have been left aside for some time.

Approximately 115,000 mortgages were restructured in 2014, and I am sure that came as a great relief to the people involved. Over the next period, the Government hopes to deal with a number of other options that will assist mortgage holders still in distress with a number of other opportunities. With respect to variable mortgage interest rates, the Minister has confirmed that as Permanent TSB has had a valuation placed on it, with money raised for a proportion of that, he intends to call in representatives of major banks and explain on behalf of the Government the moral correctness of reducing variable interest rates in cases where the banks are borrowing money at a much cheaper rate than they are charging people with respect to the mortgage being paid. I understand that will happen in May.

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