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

What does it say about Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that we are in the middle of a housing crisis and a new property bubble while at a time when the courts are chock-a-block with families in mortgage distress from the previous property crash?

A small group of people has been largely ignored in all of the processes so far. I refer to women who have children and who have separated from former partners. Many of them are struggling to pay the mortgage on their own and to keep the roof over their heads. In most cases, they are not getting any support from their former partners or the fathers of their children. Some of those women manage to cut deals with banks or mortgage providers but they often struggle to pay the agreed monthly repayment. The banks say that they require two signatures on any deal they make. One of the signatures must be that of the former partner. In some cases, because of the poisonous relationship between the couple, the former partner withholds his signature on any new deal with the bank, which means that it cannot proceed. The bank wants a deal and the mother and children want a deal but it is prevented by the former partner. In such cases, the women and children will become homeless because there is no alternative accommodation. It is really important that the Minister focus on that cohort of individuals who are being held to ransom through no fault of their own and are being forced into homelessness.

I know of a particular woman who has struggled to pay a mortgage for the past five years on her own after she separated. Her ex-husband paid nothing for many years and he filed for bankruptcy due to debts he had elsewhere. His name was taken off the deeds of the house and replaced by that of the official signee in the bankruptcy process. The woman was told her ex-husband would have nothing to do with the house ever again. She has since remarried and she and her new husband are living in the house. Just last week, however, that woman was told that, under Government legislation, her ex-husband, who has contributed nothing to the house for eight or nine years, will have his name put back on the deeds of the house and that she has no control over this whatsoever. I cannot adequately describe the level of stress she is experiencing. She is in a most vulnerable situation. Her ex-husband could move back into the house. He could possibly look to sell the house. He could also possibly look for further loans and potentially use the house as collateral.

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