Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 3, to delete lines 19 to 21 and substitute the following:“ “2A.(1) This section applies to any proceedings brought by a mortgagee, irrespective of when the mortgage was created, seeking an order for possession of land to which the mortgage relates and which land is land to which section 2 applies—”.

This amendment, which was previously discussed at length on Committee Stage, proposes the insertion of a new section 2A into section 2 of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2013. It is not clear that the relevant provision of the Bill applies retrospectively. Sinn Féin believes that the amendment is essential to avoid potential challenges to the legislation on the basis that it is not retrospective. We believe that those seeking to repossess homes will argue that this section does not apply retrospectively. Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, also reached that conclusion. We do not know exactly how many people are in mortgage arrears and in fear of repossession, but there may be as many as 12,000 or more. The key purpose of the Bill and, I am sure, the intention of the Minister of State, Deputy Boxer Moran, is to provide protections for those people. He stated that such protections are contained in the Bill but I am not convinced that is the case. The amendment aims to provide certainty in that regard and ensure that any potential court challenges arguing that the provision does not apply retrospectively are minimised by clearly stating in the section that it applies to all repossession proceedings.

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