Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is just over three years since, speaking from the other side of the House, I and others first predicted in this House the crisis in mortgage arrears. Since that time there has been the Cooney report, the Keane report and a superficial code of conduct, but on the ground there are ambivalent banks who engage only in a superficial way. By way of showing forbearance, they are giving no easement to the families all over the country suffering from the stress of their inability to pay their mortgage bills and the prospect of losing their homes.

The Personal Insolvency Bill puts the financial institutions in complete control. Independent Deputies in the other House have made several attempts, as have I with the Family Home Bill and other initiatives, to bring forward tangible solutions which will help people but nothing has happened. This week I am glad to welcome into the debate the Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Honohan, who has said he is losing patience with the banks. I also welcome the troika mission announcing we must achieve sustainability for households and those in distress as a result of mortgage arrears. No financial institution has put forward the option of warehousing debt, as it seems we as a nation have just been permitted to do. Nobody from the banks has come forward to say they are prepared to take equity in people's property for a period of time. Nobody has come forward to suggest intergenerational mortgages. The level of superficiality is disgraceful. There has been nothing yet in the crisis for the citizen and I include all Governments over the past three years in this condemnation. It is time the people in the street see tangible results. As an intermediary acting on behalf of a couple, I have requested a mortgage to rent option, which is what the family wants, but under no circumstance will the bank consider it. The bank is thinking of one thing and the bottom line is that the citizen comes last. The citizen needs to start coming first.