Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

I welcome Senator James Carroll to the House. His election in the local elections was as outstanding a feat as Louth's victory in the 1957 All-Ireland football title. We welcome young Members to the House. I have sympathy with Senator John Paul Phelan on losing his title as youngest Member.

One serious issue of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009 is how banks can take possession of houses with an occupancy clause and get them lifted while the mortgage holder trying to sell such a house cannot. There is not a level playing pitch between the banks and the person struggling to sell his or her house. It is timely to raise this issue now given the representatives of the banks will today appear before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service. The question we must pose to the chief executive officers of the banks is why cannot they live on €500,000. The banks are repossessing houses throughout the country and selling them off at will to whomever they wish, yet mortgage holders are not being given time to sell their homes. I ask the Leader to take up this issue with the Minister. Surely people struggling to sell their houses should be permitted to do so under the same terms and conditions as the banks.