Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Deir siad sa nGaeilge "Meileann muilte Dé go mall ach meileann siad go mion" agus níl aon dabht faoi ó thaobh an réiteach atá ag an Rialtas seo ar fhadhbanna na morgáistí go bhfuil na muilte ag meilt go mall ach i ndáiríre ó thaobh lucht na baincéireachta de agus an brú atá siadsan ag cur ar lucht na morgáistí, tá siad ag meilt go mion ansin ceart go leor.

Not only have the Irish people had to endure three years of a clearly broken system, we also had another stall of six months from Committee Stage of this Bill. Eventually, we were promised that the bank veto would be removed but, like most promises from this Government, that has not happened. I accept this Bill is an improvement but we are unconvinced that it will do the job.

What we have before us is very much a conditional review of the veto rather than an outright removal. It is also a temporary measure. If I were to fall into arrears today or tomorrow, the banks would still have a veto over any arrangement. This is an improvement, but it does not match the promise people struggling in debt were given.

The Minister will be aware that Sinn Féin will table two amendments on Committee Stage to rectify the main weaknesses in this legislation. It is hoped those amendments can be accepted rather than have us come back here in a couple of months, or years, to rectify the situation once more.

When this Government's obituary is written in the near future, the verdict will be that its abysmal failure to recognise and tackle Ireland's debt crisis was one of its greatest failings. Today, we are dealing with personal and business debt. We are four years into this Government's term, which has been four years of a spiralling mortgage arrears crisis, and only now are we taking half-hearted steps towards challenging the banks' veto.

This is not the first action the Government has taken. In terms of its record, in connivance with the Central Bank, it allowed the banks meet their targets for mortgage arrangements through legal actions. Labour and Fine Gael might be happy to consider repossessing a family home as a sustainable solution, but Sinn Féin certainly is not. The Government watered down the code of conduct on mortgage arrears to favour the banks. As we know from the Central Bank, that was not good enough for the banks, which routinely ignored the code anyway. It removed the legal protection for the family home. This Government sat back and let the banks off the leash, and now we see hundreds of repossession cases taking place across the State.

The number of people in long-term arrears is continuing to rise over three years after this Government came to power. The personal debt crisis is still with us, and nothing substantial has been done to tackle it.

The mortgage to rent process has failed utterly as well. Scandalously, when Sinn Féin proposed restoring the legal protection of the family home in a Bill very similar to what is before us now, the Government opposed it. That was over 15 months ago. How many families have lost their homes since then because of the Labour and Fine Gael backbenchers marching in to vote "No" at that time to something they are supporting today? The Minister might be surprised to learn that the reason given for the Government rejecting that Bill was that the Personal Insolvency Act was strong enough.

I hope the Government can follow through on its promise and remove the banks' veto, not just for some and not just for a while but comprehensively and permanently, by accepting the amendments we will bring forward on Committee Stage.

Tá teip go hiomlán ar an Rialtas seo dul i ngleic leis an ngéarchéim seo ó thaobh lucht na morgáistí. Tá daoine i gcruachas. Tá na céadta daoine ag teacht os comhair na cúirteanna gach mí i ngach contae ar fud na tíre. Tá a gcloiginn sa ngaineamh maidir leis an rud ar fad agus tá siad ag sunny de réir port na mbancanna, mar a bhí an Rialtas a chuaigh roimhe ag déanamh chomh maith céanna. Is mór an náire é ach tá súil agam go dtógfaidh siad ar bord na leasaí a bheas muid ag moladh ar Chéim an Choiste gan moill.