Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

There are many reasons for failure but there are no excuses. We have had the Hugh Cooney report on mortgage arrears, the Keane report on mortgage arrears, the programme for Government and a Cabinet sub-committee but the reality is clear. I often quote Senator Barrett, who is in the House, who mentioned the metaphorical back stairs in the Department of Finance that seems to be exclusively open to the bankers. This approach is also alive and well in the Central Bank. Instead of pushing forward much needed tangible solutions to the problem of mortgage arrears, many of which have been proposed by Senators, including on this side, the Central Bank is set to further weaken the hand of people in mortgage difficulty by changing the code of conduct on mortgage arrears and allowing banks to contact people who are struggling with their mortgages more than three times per month, as is currently provided for in the code. This is a ridiculous proposal.

Senator Coghlan stated that more caution and less haste is needed on this issue. What is needed is less conversation and more action. We have a silent crisis in which families are being consistently overlooked in favour of big bankers. This needs to cease. Senator Keane may not like to hear it but no side has exclusivity on this matter or owns the ground on which we are to put forward solutions.