Paul Bradford (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, and her colleague, the Minister, Deputy Shatter, who made the opening remarks. Whatever about this being an amazing week, the contribution from Senator Daly was not particularly amazing. I heard much of it when he spoke on the personal insolvency legislation, which was very important, but the Senator's contribution was by way of a single transferable speech, which we heard again today. The Senator knows that we are obliged to pass this legislation because of a court case and that we are simply restating what the previous Government, which was very much led and directed by the Senator's party, believed to be the position at that time. Fortunately for distressed mortgage holders across the country, of whom there are tens of thousands, the Minister is at least using this legislation to put some additional measures in place which might be of some help. We all wish we would not have to be in this place politically but our country and our economy is broken and, sadly, these property crises arise from that.

We got the lecture from Senator Daly about the admonishment by former President Bill Clinton when he told us to get our house in order, if Members will excuse the pun, but the way they get their house in order in the United States in terms of people who cannot pay their mortgages is that they repossess and sell. The huge foreclosure market in America is as much a product of President Bill Clinton's Democratic Party as it is a product of the Republican Party and therefore I am not interested in listening to lectures from President Bill Clinton on housing or on many other policy issues facing us, particularly this week.

Every Member recognises that there is a profound problem with mortgages. Sadly, too many families cannot repay their mortgages and face a genuine financial crisis. We must try to work with them to assist in that regard.

It is ironic that we are debating the legislation here when the troika is in town. Apparently, part of the troika's discussions this week with the Government, the Department of Finance and other Departments concerns this issue in its broadest format. It will probably cause further reflection on Government thinking but it is fair to say that as a result of the personal insolvency legislation a suite of measures were put in place by the Minister, Deputy Shatter, and the Government some months ago. We are at least setting out some sort of roadmap and, it is hoped, a path to safety for a reasonable number of families. That must be welcomed.

In terms of one of the measures being taken by the Minister, the legal obligation on him would be to simply put in place what we believed was the position before the court case but he is now bringing about the possibility of substantial negotiation with the personal insolvency provisions. This is not a personal attack on him but Senator Daly said that the banks will continue to ignore us as they have always done in the past.

If the banks are not co-operating to a reasonable degree the courts can decide not to let the repossession go ahead and direct the banks and the borrowers down the route of the personal insolvency process. This degree of slowing down the process is helpful. No new powers will be provided as a result of the legislation; I know we will hear this statement later in the week, but it is true with regard to this Bill. It is a tidying up measure arising from the Start Mortgages court case, but it is appropriate the Government puts in place any further additional assistance it can by way of this legislation.

The Minister has been very clear in his statement as to where he wants the legislation to lead and how he wants it to help. I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, would agree with the Minister's view that the repossession of a family home or principal private residence must be a last resort after all other avenues have been tried. This is the starting point of the Government's policy and is at the core of this and other legislation. We must recognise that tragically there will still be cases where repossession will take place, but at least let us have it structured and be aware of the full legal underpinning of the rules so people can be helped as far as possible even though the outcome would not be desirable. The availability of the Circuit Court option is welcome so people will be in a position to avoid having to travel to the High Court in Dublin.

The Acting Chairman often speaks in the House on the question of personal debt, housing debt, mortgages and the need for us to do whatever is possible. The backdrop is our economic crisis, our broken economy and the fact that hundreds of thousands of people borrowed to a level where repayment in full is not sustainable. The personal insolvency arrangement measures are a part response and this is a necessary tidying up of another part of the problem. We all recognise that further efforts are required.

I thank the Minister for his contribution and his personal commitment, which we saw very much in the House, as we also saw from the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, when dealing with the personal insolvency legislation. It was considered in a thorough and inclusive fashion whereby amendments from the Opposition were listened to with great respect. Many were taken on board and are now part of the legislation. Rather than Opposition Senators, such as the previous speakers, trying to rewrite history and making smart comments and silly interventions on a subject as serious as a person's house, home and family home we should all try to work together. If people have genuine problems with the legislation let us try to improve it, but let us not pretend we live in a Walter Mitty land where we can ignore these problems and wish them away.