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

I wish to focus on those who are in mortgage distress, as this particular group are at the sharp end of the variable rate rip-off in the State. Mortgage distress is wreaking havoc on families. It has only been dwarfed by the humanitarian crisis of homelessness in the past few years, but, in reality, it is part of the same chaotic Government approach to housing throughout the State. What we have seen is a glacial private sector building industry, a social housing sector in reverse and a hyper-inflated rental market that is increasingly in the hands of vulture markets.

In my county and many others there are people who are migrating westward to try to find houses in their price bracket. They are being excluded from their own communities as a result of what is happening. About 30,000 families in mortgage distress will have spent the whole day struggling to keep their heads above water. Tonight these 30,000 families will go to bed and in the silence of their houses their minds will be wracked until dawn to see how they can stop the train hurtling down the tracks towards them, with the prospect of losing the roof over their heads. They are dealing day in, day out with super-profitable banks that have been pumped full of our tax money and paying rates that are way out of kilter with European comparisons. For many of them, the interest rates for this group of people are the difference between survival and being thrown into the chaos of homelessness.

The Minister talks about the role competition will play to solve this problem. Is he for real when he says this? He created two pillar banks which now have 85% of the market. Anybody with a rudimentary understanding of economics will know that this is not competition; it is an oligopoly and the opposite to competition. These banks have the supplier power and call the shots every time when it comes to the customer. Stunningly, in the past five years the Government has made no efforts to introduce competition into the sector. It has not looked at the public banking system that we see in Germany. It has disempowered the credit union sector from properly entering the market. The ecosystem of credit the Government has created is being funnelled through these two pillar banks. What we have seen is an over-concentration of supplier power in these two banks. The Minister let the cat out of the bag at the end of his statement. What he is seeking to do is fatten the State banks in order that they can be sold. He is putting the rates and prices of the stocks of the banks above the needs of hundreds of thousands of families who are struggling.

I wish to highlight one sector of the mortgage distress class that the Government has created. It is pretty invisible, unfortunately, in most of the discourse we have had, but its suffering is real. Many separated mothers and some separated fathers are raising families in homes that they are teetering on the edge of losing owing to mortgage distress. Many of these parents have been doing their best to meet their mortgage repayments and keep their children in a home. Their former partners have reneged on all of their responsibilities in the repayment of mortgages. Some of these parents have been valiantly trying to keep the show on the road and actually brokered deals with the banks. However, in spite of this, owing the fact that their former partners are remaining unco-operative, it is likely that they will be thrown out onto the street. In other words, they are being held to ransom by parties to the contract they signed for the mortgage on their house and not being allowed to proceed with paying off the mortgage at a feasible rate. As a result, their families are going to lose out. It is all perfectly legal, but it is absolutely wrong that it should happen and it needs to change. I am not saying it can change in this Bill, but the Minister needs to focus on the issue.

I commend my colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, who has done much of the heavy lifting on this issue in the development of his own Bill, although I recognise the similar work done by Deputy Micheal McGrath.

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