Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

I also forgive Senator Hayden because she was probably not aware of a report I co-authored with the former Deputy, Olwyn Enright, in the Joint Committee on Social Protection, where the Fianna Fáil Party did considerable work on this issue. One of the original aims of Fianna Fáil was to establish as many families as practicable on the land. While that is now an unfashionable aim, the corollary is that those families have homes. The family home is crucial to this party as it is to every party and it is not acceptable to tar us with that brush.

As has been said, the report of the group chaired by Mr. Hugh Cooney was disappointing. There are many possible solutions, a number of which are very worthy, including the mortgage to rent and the mortgage to shared equity schemes in Scotland. They are referred to in the report I drafted with he former Deputy, Olwyn Enright, but they have a cost to the State. However, why should the State bear this enormous cost? The banks should bear this cost and there are solutions that are cost free to the banks and work for everybody. In the course of compiling my report for the joint committee, the chief executive of a financial institution was able to outline a win-win situation in which the banks and families could gain. We cannot just add to value of the bailout for the banks, we must also consider the other side of the equation and the cost. It is all right to say we have good news but we must determine the cost and where we will get the money. That is the most appropriate approach.

The previous Government kept the rate of repossession at a global low. The rate of repossession in Ireland is much lower than that in any other country with an equivalent property bubble - that is a fact. The Minister is agreeing with me now, yet, when Fine Gael and the Labour Party were in opposition, they put the fear of God into families day in, day out, implying that their houses would be repossessed. With the codes of conduct, which are not statutory, as Senator MacSharry rightly pointed out, the rate of repossession is low. This is on the basis of action we took. We must go a step further, however, as the motion calls for. That is why we are willing to support the motion but I fundamentally believe the cost should not be incurred by the State but by the banks. There are solutions that are cost free or of as low a cost as possible.