Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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6. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans for new initiatives to tackle the mortgage arrears crisis and the cases of long-term arrears in particular. [1337/16]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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This question also relates to mortgage arrears. I do not believe that a householder in mortgage arrears which exceed the value of the house would consider a property tax a wealth tax. Also, the banking sector does not exhibit proper competition. It is, in effect, an oligopoly, with 85% of the market in the hands of two banks.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Thank you.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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There are 91,291 families in mortgage arrears. If one accepts that there are typically three people in a household, this means approximately one third of a million people-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy needs only to provide an introductory explanation of his question.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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I usually get 30 seconds to do so.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I can assure the Deputy that he has been given his 30 seconds.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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One third of a million families are locked into struggles on this issue.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy can put that question to the Minister later.

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that Central Bank residential mortgage arrears data published last month indicate that the level of mortgages in arrears continues to decline and has done so for the past nine consecutive quarters.  It is particularly welcome that the latest bulletin reported that all maturity categories of arrears, including the over 720 days' category, declined in quarter three of last year and it is to be hoped that this downward trend will continue.  In addition, the Central Bank data shows the impact that has been made when borrowers engage with their lenders.  Almost 121,000 principal dwelling home, PDH, mortgage accounts were classified as restructured at end-September, of which some 86.6% were deemed to be meeting the terms of their restructure arrangement. 

The Deputy will also be aware that on 13 May last the Government announced measures focused on strengthening the framework to support mortgage holders in arrears. More recently, the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, signed the commencement order for an important recent reform under the Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Act 2015, which allows for an independent review by the courts if a fair and reasonable proposal for a personal insolvency arrangement, PIA, which includes mortgage arrears on the debtor's home, has not obtained the necessary majority consent from creditors.

In addition, the role of the Money Advice & Budgeting Service, MABS, has been enhanced.  The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, launched the new dedicated mortgage arrears service before Christmas, which assigns to MABS a greater role in offering appropriate information, advice and assistance to mortgage holders through all stages of the mortgage arrears resolution process and beyond.  There will be three key strands to the dedicated mortgage arrears services, namely, the MABS helpline; specialist advisers to assist mortgage holders in identifying the best sustainable mortgage resolution option for them, and court mentors to assist home owners facing court proceedings.

It must be remembered that over 87% of principal dwelling home mortgages are not in arrears.  It is also worth repeating that where a borrower actively engages with a lender with a view to agreeing a sustainable arrangement to address his or her mortgage arrears, it is more likely that an equitable arrangement will be found and that the borrower will be able to remain in the family home.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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The point I was trying to make earlier is that typically there are three people in a household and that given there are 91,000 mortgages in arrears this means that nearly one third of a million people are locked into this struggle, most of whom are people in my age category and are likely to have young families. There is a real human tragedy at the heart of this particular issue.

It is interesting that the former Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Patrick Honohan, has stated that he has major regrets with regard to the process of unwinding the mortgage crisis in this State. The only protections that the family had in law have been removed and have not been replaced with a proper replacement. The Central Bank has also diluted the code of conduct on mortgage arrears on behalf of the State. As such, many of the resolutions referred to by the Minister are repossessions or so-called voluntary repossessions. When these are aligned with split mortgages-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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A question, please.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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-----this means that problems are either being kicked down the road or that a family will lose its home. Given this human catastrophe, which is affecting almost one third of a million people, what new initiatives does the Government propose to introduce to alleviate the pain for these families?

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As everybody here knows, when this Government came into office five years ago, the situation in this area was disastrous and it appeared it would not be resolved. Following the putting in place of a series of measures, which have been constantly reviewed, significant progress has been made. It now appears that this is a solvable problem. Over time, as the economy improves, it is solvable.

We have succeeded in bringing about a situation whereby, because of all of the initiatives applicable, there are very few repossessions of family homes. I provided the statistics in this regard in response to a previous question. As far as I can recall there were 420 repossessions last year, 215 of which were voluntary. The number of repossessions is, as I said, very small. The Government policy is that people will remain in their family homes. The restructuring process is working. Some 121,000 mortgages have been restructured, 86% of which are standing up. In other words, the householders can afford the new arrangements and are complying with the new rules. Things are improving. While there may be a small residue over time, which will not be in a position to make new arrangements, as the initiatives continue we would hope that resolutions will be found for them also.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Thank you, Minister. I will let you back in.

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The initiatives are constantly reviewed. The initiatives introduced in the past 12 months by the Tánaiste and the Minister for Justice and Equality have added to the portfolio of interventions and have been successful also.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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The problem I have is that voluntary repossessions are often recorded as solutions. I have worked with more than 100 people in mortgage distress. Voluntary repossession is often a euphemism for, "There's no choice left for you but to go".

I would like to focus at this point on the mortgage-to-rent scheme. According to the Labour Party, 3,500 people will avail of this scheme. Since last October, 246 have done so, which equates to approximately ten people per county. That is a phenomenally low figure which represents 0.002% of people in mortgage distress. In terms of the State-owned banks, this means 15 homes have gone into-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Sorry, Deputy, this is Question Time.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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It is Question Time.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Would you put your question, please?

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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I am building the context of the question, a Cheann Comhairle.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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There is a time limit.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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The point is that the State-owned banks have delivered only 15 mortgage-to-rent solutions.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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A question, please.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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I understand there has been-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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A question, please, Deputy. There are other backbench Deputies who want to have their questions answered.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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There are elements of what the Government has done that we believe are unfair. What new initiatives is the Government-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Sorry, Deputy, would you please resume your seat? Thank you.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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-----going to introduce to ensure this-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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It is unfair to backbench Deputies that spokespersons run over time. It is now almost 10.30 a.m. and we are only on Question No. 6. Would you please resume your seat?

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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A Cheann Comhairle, this-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call the Minister to provide a short reply.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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A Cheann Comhairle, in fairness-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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There will be no more questions.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister, when responding, was given more than five minutes to do so.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Resume your seat, please.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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We get very little time to ask questions.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Would you mind resuming your seat?

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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If the Ceann Comhairle did not continually interrupt me-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Would you mind resuming your seat?

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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It is very hard for me to ask my question when I am being constantly interrupted.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Would you put your question?

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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I would be able to put my question in the time allocated if I was not being continually interrupted.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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We are moving on to the next question.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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It is unfair.