Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Government has been in control for two years and mortgage arrears have increased 50%. We brought forward the Family Home Bill in 2011 to put up tangible solutions to the problem yet at the time the Government claimed it was not necessary and was unconstitutional. It even claimed the code on mortgage arrears was working exceptionally well when the Central Bank’s own analysis of it stated 60% of the banks were not even following it.

I, like many other Members, have had to mediate on behalf of vulnerable families in mortgage arrears who do not feel capable of taking on the banks. I had a case of someone who wanted to avail of the mortgage-to-rent scheme which the Government announced recently with much fanfare. However, the bank would not allow them to avail of the scheme. Instead, it reduced the mortgage repayment to €250 for three months so the individual could pay down some secondary debt. That is superficial and does not deal with the problem.

One of the contributing factors behind the rejection of Croke Park II is because people see the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance and the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, celebrating the benefits of lengthening out our term of debt and the promissory note deal but see nothing for them in return. The Minister of State stated it was great for exiting the programme and getting us back into the markets. The phrase used was “re-profiling our debt”. While these developments are welcome, people are asking what is in it for the people. What about the couple in an estate in Sligo town whose value of their home is down 25% and who want to avail of the mortgage-to-rent scheme so as not to throw equity down the drain but are told they cannot? Instead, they are told their mortgage repayments will be reduced to €250 for three months. That is like Brussels telling the Minister for Finance that our repayments on the promissory note will be reduced for a while but then it will shoot back up again afterwards. It would not be worth anything.

The people have not entered this debate. The banks are superficially engaging with people in mortgage arrears. I accept the chief executive of AIB is briefing Members now about the bank’s approach to mortgage arrears. One can show lots of statistics but on the ground no one is getting real solutions. Have the banks told those people at my age, 39 years of age, who have a 25-year mortgage and have paid off 15 years of it but lost their job, that it will freeze their mortgage until the economy bounces back and they find employment again? Has this happened to anyone? No it has not.

Now we are tearing that up and I am flabbergasted by that. The Personal Insolvency Bill was described aptly by Deputy Higgins in the Dáil; it is like putting the foxes in charge of the henhouse. The banks are all-powerful and we have torn up the code of conduct on mortgage arrears by telling the banks to forget it and do whatever they want and get on with it. This is ridiculous in the extreme. As Senator Barrett has said here many times, there seems to be a private stairway, metaphorically speaking, for bankers into the Department of Finance. Sadly, this has been borne out. I look forward to an explanation for this in another debate, as well as an explanation for the contact between the Secretary General, Mr. Moran, and the Barclay brothers to try to facilitate the sale of assets that belong to the people. This is very worrying.

To return to the current issue, how many times must we have this same debate? How many times must we acknowledge that we need tangible solutions rather than woolly stuff that looks good on the surface but does nothing on the ground? With regard to the mortgage-to-let option, we are taking no cognisance of the fact that families live in these homes. Banks and receivers will not give tuppence for those people. They want vacant possession and will sell homes out from under people. We need to consider this seriously.