Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Bheinn ag tacú leis an méid atá ráite ag an Seanadóir a chuaigh romham, ach dhéanfaí dearmad scaití go bhfuil sé i bPáirtí an Lucht Oibre agus gur cheart don Aire féin, an Teachta Rabbitte, teacht isteach agus é fhreagairt maidir leis na ceisteanna sin.

It is appropriate that all eyes were on Rome yesterday and I welcome the election of Pope Francis. I hope he will be successful in his position and we will see a more open and tolerant church under his reign. Some of the events in this country yesterday would remind one of Roman times.

I am thinking of the Colosseum, which I visited recently, and that yesterday's proposal on mortgages is almost akin to throwing innocent mortgage holders to the banking lions, with the Government just watching the whole process. As said previously, there are 195,000 mortgage holders in distress. We have been waiting for a long time for action from the Government on the issue. The previous Government was also very slow to act. It received two expert group reports and did nothing to alleviate the plight of mortgage holders. The members of that Government are now jumping up and down looking for support for people in distress. The current Government is giving more power to the banks and giving them the ability to hassle people in arrears and to move people off tracker mortgages. It is opening the door for repossessions. This is an awful day for mortgage holders and a terrible indictment of the Government.

We should have been hearing about a non-judicial, independent mortgage resolution body with power to impose resolution agreements on lenders and borrowers. This body should have had a full range of solutions available to it, including debt write-down. The first priority should have been to protect the family home by restructuring mortgages in a way that makes them sustainable in the longer term. However, we have seen that the power has been handed over to the banks. The banks are in the driving seat once more. The big lobby has won over and it is an absolute disgrace on the part of the Government. I call on the Minister to come to the House as soon as possible so we can debate the so-called resolution mechanism that has been proposed. It is an absolute disgrace attributable to the Government and the people who support it, in addition to the banking system, which is obviously pushing very hard to mind its own vested interests. It is a very bad day for citizens.