Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have pointed out to Deputy Martin the number of times that the committee has actually met. In addition to that, every Monday morning the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, meets with a group in his Department and members of Dublin City Council to co-ordinate activities in this area.

This is really a supply issue because supply ground to a halt after the economic collapse. The Minister has already made it clear he is working on a package of measures to deal with housing, including the situation concerning rent. He has already pointed out that a tenants rights campaign began this week to ensure that people are fully aware of their rights. He has already made the decision, approved by Government, that 50% of allocations in the Dublin area will go to people who are on the housing list. As Deputy Martin is aware, Threshold operates a scheme under which persons in difficulty or about to get into difficulty in respect of rent can have their case examined on an individual basis with a view to preventing them from being removed from their current accommodation and ending up on the street or as occupants of hotel rooms or bed and breakfast establishments.

The real problem here is the supply of houses. That means that we cannot deal with this in a comprehensive fashion until builders are in a position to put blocks on concrete and houses on the ground. We have had discussions with the Dublin City Manager on a number of occasions as to how we can deal with this through emergency measures ranging from voids being completed, reconstruction of housing and emergency units being made available.

The question of mortgage arrears is an issue but it is important to say that according to the Central Bank's figures for quarter 1 of 2015, out of 757,175 private residential mortgage accounts for principal dwellings in Ireland, 86% are not in arrears. Some 104,693 mortgages are in arrears. This figure includes arrears of one day or more and is down from a peak of 143,000 family homes in arrears. Mortgage accounts in arrears over 90 days fell for the sixth consecutive quarter in quarter 1 of 2015, with the number in arrears for over 90 days at the end of March standing at 74,395, or 9.8% of the total. Some 37,933 of those mortgages are in very long term arrears of over 720 days and although the number of accounts in long term arrears continues to rise, the pace of increase has reduced significantly in recent quarters.

More recent figures from the Department of Finance on the six main banks were published last week and represent 90% of the market. These also show that the number of principal dwelling houses in mortgage arrears has fallen. The number has declined by almost 2,000 per month and by 23% over the year since April 2014, to stand at just over 82,000 at the end of April 2015. The number of mortgage accounts in arrears of over 90 days has continued to fall while those accounts in arrears of over 720 days remains steady, with a small rise of nine such accounts since March 2015. The number of accounts with no arrears has increased to just over 611,000. Central Bank figures also show an increase in the number of mortgage accounts on principal dwelling homes that have been restructured, with a year-on-year increase of just under 27% and a quarter on quarter increase of 2.3%. The figures show that 117,263 homes have had their mortgages restructured through a wide variety of restructuring options. It is worth noting that more than 85% of these are meeting their current restructuring arrangements.

In terms of the six main banks, the Department of Finance figures show an increase of almost 30% since April 2014 in restructured accounts, with the total now standing at just over 57,000. The Central Bank figures show that the number of buy-to-let mortgage accounts in arrears has also continued to fall. At the end of March 2015 there were 139,206 buy-to-let mortgages, of which a total of 33,475 or 24% are in arrears. This is a decrease of almost 15% since quarter 1 of 2014 and a quarterly decrease of over 2,000 accounts.

The number of accounts in arrears of more than 90 days has fallen by 5.9% quarter-on-quarter to just under 27,500. There was a marginal fall of five in the number of accounts in arrears of more than 720 days, bringing the total number to 15,361.

The Department of Finance figures also show a decrease in the number of buy-to-let mortgage accounts in arrears. Of 120,513 for the six main banks, 77% are not in arrears. Of the cases dealt with by the Insolvency Service of Ireland up to the first quarter of 2015, 328 personal solvency arrangements have been agreed. While the overall numbers remain low, there is a success rate there of 72.4%.

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