Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

Perhaps tomorrow's debate might give him an opportunity to do so. Last evening's debate on the mortgage crisis and the mortgage arrears situation, during which we made statements and asked questions of the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, was long overdue but very useful. Some excellent contributions were made by Senators on all sides of the House. It was clear to me that the Government is being led by the nose by the banks, in effect, on the mortgage issue. The Government has been frightened into paralysis, rather than dealing with the mortgage arrears crisis. Figures on distressed mortgages for the first quarter of 2012 will be published next week. The figures for the last quarter of 2011 showed there had been an increase of five percentage points in a single year, from 7.4% to over 12%, in the number of mortgages in arrears of 90 days or more.

I ask Senators of all parties and none to consider a motion I will circulate next week. This House can play an important role, in a non-partisan fashion, by agreeing to call on the Government to set out a clear timeline for the introduction of a strategy, comprising plans and actions, to help the thousands of Irish citizens who are in terrible positions with regard to their mortgages. Many people fear they will not have a house over their head next year. Members of this House have played a role in trying to solve this problem by introducing legislation, which was defeated by three votes last summer, unfortunately. Our role is to hold the Government to account. We can do that by agreeing a cross-party motion calling on the Government to set out a timeframe that it will meet. It is interesting that we were told yesterday that something will be produced in August and that the Central Bank will do something by the end of May. We were also told that the Government is producing the personal insolvency Bill, which is a complex piece of legislation. I was concerned yesterday when the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, said "the personal insolvency legislation will be the ultimate game-changer". I honestly cannot see how that will be the case. I will circulate the motion I have mentioned among the party and group leaders next week.

I will conclude by asking the Deputy Leader whether the Government can confirm its position on Greece's continuing membership of the euro. Frankly, I was astounded to hear the comments that the Minister, Deputy Noonan, made about Greece on Bloomberg. He is reported to have said that "apart from holidaying in the Greek islands, I think most Irish people don't have a lot" of connections with Greece. He continued by asking "if you go into the shops here, apart from feta cheese, how many Greek items do you put in your basket?". Comments like that are extremely insensitive to fellow EU citizens who are struggling. People in Athens are rummaging in bins to feed themselves. This is a serious situation. The Minister's comments show how out of step he is. Having spoken to Irish people, I know they have grave concerns about the people of Greece and feel for the situation they are in through no fault of their own. The Minister went on to say that "for big, knock-on effects you need to have strong economic connections" and "we don't have any economic connections, really" with Greece. Is Ireland moving away from Greece?