Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

I join others in welcoming the announcements made in the newspapers at the weekend that the Government would look seriously at proposals first made in this House and of which it can be rightly proud. This brings us back to March last year when the prevention of family home repossessions group was formed and concrete proposals were brought forward, many of which the Minister mentioned. I caution against the establishment of an expert group. More than one year's research has been done by our group and many others in the House. Rather than being superficially engaged in dealing with the issue, groups have already been established; for example, the Irish Banking Federation has a standing committee with the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, to monitor the issues involved. We also have the MABS protocol. The practice is telling us repossessions are continuing by those financial institutions which are not members of or affiliated to the Irish Banking Federation. As a result, what is needed - as we in this House have been stating ad nauseam - is legislative change, namely, an amendment to the Enforcement of Court Orders Act to ensure the repossession of the primary family residence will be prohibited, unless a series of analyses is undertaken. That legislative change must be made. The establishment of an expert group to tell us effectively what we already know would represent superficial window dressing for the public when this is an issue which has been teased out and researched in detail by this House in the past year, something of which it can be rightly proud.