Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The last five or six words were the only part of the answer that addressed my question. I know we are running out of time but we are supposed to be in a different situation now, one in which we get to the nub of issues rather more quickly.

The Minister has made commitments and said he would review the code of conduct to make it mandatory on lenders to provide a more effective range of options. The two options highest on the agenda are split mortgages and mortgages to rent. People want to know when they will be able to say to AIB, Bank of Ireland or Permanent TSB that they are among the customers in mortgage arrears and to ask them where is the split mortgage or mortgage-to-rent offer.

I ask the Minister to outline the process. Is he saying the Government does not have the power to do this? Is he saying it is an issue for the Governor of the Central Bank, who is independent of Government? There is a commitment to do this in the programme for Government so can the Minister tell us the process involved in implementing it? Does the Minister have agreement from the Governor of the Central Bank to its commitment, whether with legislation or something else, to make it mandatory for financial institutions to offer certain solutions to their customers?

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