Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. There are serious problems in how what the Minister's spoke about is being adhered to and how it is being enforced. The issues are well-documented in the Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, From Pillar to Post series published in the last number of years. As the Minister said, it is crucial to ensure that the CCMA is fit for purpose, especially in the context of the rising interest rates, which we are seeing more of today. For those who are having repayment difficulties, this is becoming more and more prevalent. There is limited data on the type of restructures that take place between the lender and borrower. The data shows that the longer a mortgage is in arrears, the more difficult it is to get a restructure, with the minority of mortgages in arrears having received a restructure.

There is also concern regarding the premature classification of borrowers as non-co-operating which immediately removes the borrower from the protection of a mortgage arrears resolution process. We have to ask if there is a need for greater supervision by the Central Bank of lenders prematurely classifying borrowers as non-co-operating, given its stark and immediate consequences for them.

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