Results 7,041-7,060 of 16,492 for speaker:Ciarán Lynch

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Insolvency Service of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: I propose to suspend for a few moments to attend to private business

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Insolvency Service of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: No, we are doing it now. I thank the witnesses for appearing today. There were a number of matters on which they said they would revert to us and offer further clarification. We would certainly be very interested in hearing their views as the process rolls on. As I said in my opening address, we had in the past deferred interest or interest-only payments, representing the prolonging of a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: Before we resume, I remind members, witnesses and those in the Visitors Gallery that all mobile telephones must be switched off to avoid interference with the broadcasting of the meeting. I welcome Professor Patrick Honohan, Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, to this afternoon's meeting. The discussion with Professor Honohan is the last in our series of public meetings examining...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: I thank the Governor. He is the last of the witnesses to come before us in this series of meetings. When we held the first of those meetings last year, at which the Governor was present, there were no targets in place. On the next occasion on which we met him, such targets had been notified to the banks. In the interim, we have been examining how those targets are being met. The initial...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: We do not want a blanket scenario whereby interest-only arrangements will be put in place because such arrangements involve profits going to the banks without sustainable, long-term solutions being offered to customers whose mortgages are in distress. Professor Honohan is stating on the record that in some cases solutions can last into people's retirement.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: I wish Professor Honohan to comment on a case in point. Let us consider the position of someone in his or her mid- to late 50s whose debt will not be cleared before he or she reaches 65 or 66 years of age, whose property is in positive equity and who has a decent and secure pension for retirement. It would be less costly for that person to make interest-only repayments on that mortgage,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: No; I know that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: Have discussions taken place with the pillar banks in the context of this being an agreed resolution? I am aware that the banks are obliged to engage with the Central Bank on any new models they bring forward if they contribute to the number of solutions falling within the target figure. This is what Ulster Bank was obliged to do when it drew up plans to introduce concessionary mortgages....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: I wish to pin down Professor Honohan on this very critical point. Are the banks aware that this constitutes a resolution process? Mixed messages appear to be coming back. When some people enter into resolution processes, the banks seem to be saying that their arrangements must be wrapped up by the time they reach retirement age. A number of colleagues on the committee have expressed...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: When he came before us previously, Professor Honohan provided a very colourful response when we inquired about the absence of targets. I recall that he stated he was pulling the hair out of his head because of his frustration with the banks. Given that targets are now actually in place, is it time they were reviewed in order to assess how they are being met and whether they might be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: There was a disproportionate number of voluntary surrenders when such surrenders were introduced. There was a great deal of argument between the committee and the banks with regard to whether an initial letter sent to someone containing a threat of repossession could be viewed as being part of a resolution process. Leaving that aside, a significant number of people are in the process of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: Sorry, voluntary surrenders.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: One of the improvements we are looking for is consistency across the board, that is, not that there is the same approach to every given solution but that there is a level of consistency and a level of information flow so that borrowers can see what is happening. In terms of the Central Bank, it has been meeting the banks and the credit unions to see how secured and unsecured debt can be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: I have a final question - other members may pick this up as we go over it in the afternoon - which relates to the issue of how the Central Bank collates its data on those in arrears. Is there a requirement to review same? We are seeing situations, or an implied consequence arising, where borrowers are in a mortgage arrears resolution process, MARP, but seem to be falling out of it,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: Before I pass on to Deputy Michael McGrath, I must say that what Professor Honohan has done this afternoon is clear up something necessary, that is, that ambiguity with regard to a resolution process for that particular coterie of borrower I mentioned. Would it be too bold of me to ask the Central Bank to issue a statement along those lines so that it gets formalised, that it is not merely...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: I thank Professor Honohan.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: There are some very specific Standing Orders and rulings in that regard. I remind all present that the purpose of this meeting is to discuss the mortgage arrears resolution targets. I remind members that in the event of there being any reference in the course of the meeting to court proceedings that concluded yesterday, it is well-established that decisions or judgments of a duly...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: Outside of the order of the-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: I call Deputy O'Donnell who is sharing his time with Senator Paul Coghlan.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (Resumed): Central Bank of Ireland (30 Apr 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: Does Professor Honohan wish to respond?