Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join Senator Darragh O'Brien in reiterating the call for a discussion on mortgage arrears. The Senator and Senator Hayden cited examples, as I did yesterday on behalf of a number of people for whom I am acting as intermediary. The banks are no longer calling it repossession but are calling it assisted sale. Either way it involves putting families out of homes. People might be surprised to hear that many of the very few split mortgages that have taken place are for investors in buy-to-let properties rather than people with family homes. I believe an investigation might show that to be the case. Was that the intention of the Government of the day in recommending the use of split mortgages or was it done in the spirit of assisting families to stay in their homes?

From the work I have done, there is substantial evidence to suggest that the repossessions being focused on first are not the basket cases. The banks are saying to the people with real equity in their homes that if those people cannot pay, the banks will put the property up for sale and take the equity to cover the debt. It is fundamentally wrong. For generations we will regret allowing this code of conduct to be the only safeguard over the legislation we are passing this week to allow repossessions to proceed. I accept the anomaly arising from the Dunne judgment needs to be addressed. However, to do it in isolation without putting tangible options in place, involving an independent debt settlement office, the courts or whoever to adjudicate over what the banks are actually doing for people, is fundamentally wrong.

I have said this since 2009. Representatives of the banks appearing before Oireachtas committees are able to give the statistical analysis to show how much they are engaging and how they are doing the devil and all for people.

The reality is that they are superficially engaging and doing nothing other than striving for that bottom line improvement as quickly as possible, and they are happy to burn families, so to speak, in the process. I ask that the relevant Minister be made attend the House. It was welcome to have the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, in the House yesterday to hear our points of view on this but she has enough to be doing in her own Departments rather than trying to understand and implement the good suggestions of Members in this House. Anyone other than the Minister, Deputy Noonan, will not be acceptable on this issue. He should be a little more relaxed now in terms of the European issues and therefore we expect him to attend here before the recess.