Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We all know the harrowing effect mortgage distress has on people and are aware of the statistics surrounding the economic crisis and the personal effect all of this has on many families. Unemployment is approximately 14% and some 1.8 million people have only €50 left at the end of the month. More than 180,000 mortgages are in serious distress and approximately 115 fall into distress each day. For many people, paying their mortgage is not an option. Families throughout the country are suffering. They are distraught and people wonder whether they will be able to pay their mortgages or feed their children. Many people can only pay their mortgages by making impossible choices at the end of the month on what bills to pay. They must choose whether to pay for their home or pay other essential bills.

The alarm bells for the mortgage crisis began ringing in December 2009. The exponential rise in mortgage arrears in the subsequent three and a half years reflects the absolute and abject failure of successive governments to deal with the situation. I must agree with the first part of the Government amendment, which acknowledges that the current Government inherited a severe mortgage arrears crisis from the previous Government and notes the responsibility of the previous Government for the creation of that crisis and its abject failure to address it properly.

The property bubble was fuelled by the cosy relationship with developers, lax regulation of the banks and reckless tax policies. The number of families in mortgage distress increased dramatically - to almost 50,000 - between 2009 and 2011. The 180,000 families that are currently in mortgage distress are rightly asking why Fianna Fáil did not introduce the proposals we are discussing today when it was in government. Why did Fianna Fáil not legislate to protect the family home when it had a chance to do so?