Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The long and the short of it is that the Government has moved to cut the amount of support available for struggling homeowners in a case where a bank or vulture fund is blocking a PIP arrangement. It has done so in such a way that no barrister is going to take instructions from a solicitor knowing that the maximum amount payable to him or her is €1,200. Barristers know, because they see it in the courts, that the banks and vulture funds are losing these cases on the basis of the numbers and figures. What the banks and vulture funds are doing now is raising legal technical issues and homeowners will not be represented for that. The Government is literally throwing these debtors to the vultures, which is absolutely no surprise. It is not acceptable. The Minister of State talks about the principle of the Government being to keep families in their homes wherever possible. This is exactly the reverse of that. This is taking away the safety net of legal representation to fight the army of solicitors and barristers who walk into the courts with the banks and vulture funds. They know they are on the wrong side of the argument as has been proven in the past, when 65% of cases were ruled in favour of the borrowers, who have been able to remain in their homes. There is no reason for this to be cancelled.

This comes in the same week as the Government was proclaiming the success of Abhaile. Within a number of days, it pulled the safety net from those using the Abhaile service and has seriously undermined the service as a result.

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