Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I thank my fellow Senators for raising this timely and concerning issue in the House. Sinn Féin agrees with the motion which it will be supporting. The receiver issue is the inevitable result of the crisis, not a crisis in and of itself. The bigger issue concerns the policies which have made the receiver king-like. Since 2011, when the Government was elected to office, we have seen the repossession crisis come to a head. Banks have started to repossess many family homes. The changes to the code of conduct on mortgage arrears have allowed banks to exert more pressure on home owners. The Government saw fit for the banks to be the moral arbiter and decide what was a sustainable solution for mortgage holders in arrears. The changes to the code of conduct on mortgage arrears allow banks to preside over a customer appeal, instead of referring it to an independent adjudicator. We have seen the weakening of services such as the MABS and the Legal Aid Board which could help borrowers in distress. The Government has brought forward insolvency laws which gave banks a veto over reasonable arrangements and allowed them to count repossession as a solution to the overall problem. Furthermore, we have the completely failed mortgage-to-rent scheme which in some counties has had no participants. The list, as many agree, is endless.

The Government has completely failed to protect mortgage holders such as those with IBRC and others from vultures. The use of vulture funds to take over the loan books of banks or NAMA properties is the dirty little secret. Worst of all, we have seen the removal of the protection of the family home in law. When we see a motion such as this before the House, Sinn Féin will support it, but it is incidental. If we go to the root cause of unscrupulous receivers, inevitably we will end up back with the banks, which is where this issue needs to be resolved.

The huge increase in the number of repossessions is a disaster. It is a crisis which has been facilitated and accepted by the Government which accepted the policies that created the crisis. The shocking number of family homes being repossessed is down to policies that have been pursued. These policies have created the environment in which hundreds of repossessions can take place and no amount of hand wringing is going to change this fact.

We opposed the removal of the effect of the Dunne judgment and proposed instead a better replacement. My colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, tabled legislation in the Dáil which would have protected the family home, proposed fair solutions and an independent body to force banks into accepting reasonable arrangements, but it was voted down. That was a shameful day for the Government and every backbench Deputy.

As a party, we opposed the softening of the code of conduct on mortgage arrears. At the time we said the Government was letting the banks off the leash. Unfortunately, that has been proved to be correct. We have proposed an independent resolution mechanism, whereby an independent body would mediate and broker an agreement between banks and customers and, crucially, be able to force the banks to accept a reasonable proposal. We want to see the personal insolvency Act amended in order that banks could not veto arrangements where a mortgage was involved. Opposition Deputies, Senators and groups working with those in debt have been calling "Stop" for years. Unfortunately, the Government is ploughing ahead and doing the banks' bidding.

As an election approaches, we hear the Government state it will take action. For many, these are empty promises and of no use to the hundreds of people who have already lost their homes or who will find themselves in the next couple of weeks being brought before the courts. They fear that it might be their home next. We need genuine and encompassing legislation to protect mortgage holders in arrears, not just empty rhetoric.

I again thank my fellow Senators for raising this important issue about receivers. Sinn Féin will support the motion. However, we need to tackle the big issue, which is repossessions.