Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We bailed out the banks to an enormous extent. They have not repaid society for that bailout in any substantial way. In fact, they have persecuted many mortgage holders who were in arrears and dispossessed many from their homes. We cannot have a repeat of that. The mortgage break ending opens up the prospect of that happening again. I heard Government spokespeople on the radio earlier saying that the banks would deal with people individually and take their personal circumstances into account. We have heard that nonsense before. What actually happens is that people suffer extreme anxiety and hardship and are pursued. That cannot happen in a context where the people are in financial difficulty because they have complied with public health measures directed by the Government. The Government must step in and provide that protection and ensure that those breaks for those who cannot manage to meet their mortgage and loan repayments are not persecuted and further punished.

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