Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Deputy Leader to arrange for the Minister for Finance to come to the House for a debate on the banking sector. Stubbs Gazette recently estimated that 25,000 Irish households would seek redress under the new insolvency rules. On top of this, numerous pronouncements have recently been made by members of the banking profession that the new legislation is expected to make it easier for them to repossess properties through the courts. This will not only affect people in the buy-to-let market; it is as if there is a blue sea between the buy-to-let market and the rest of the residential market. Ordinary people are living in fear of statements that we have to get real about the number of repossessions and the fact that people cannot pay mortgages. The reality is that banks were willing to kick the can forward for years on end and have people pay what they could, in the process leaving themselves short of food and not putting fuel in the fire, but now as soon as they see an opportunity as the market begins to rise and things improve in the economy, it is time for them to draw a line in the sand as far as people's debts are concerned. It is time we arranged for the Minister to come to the House for a genuine full and frank debate on what is happening as regards the level of mortgage debt.