Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I start by congratulating Senator Norris on bringing this Bill before the Seanad. I also commend my colleague, Deputy John McGuinness of Fianna Fáil, who has been promoting this cause since before 2011. I do not think a month or a week goes by that he does not bring this cause to the fore. I also echo the sentiments of many of my colleagues that the spirit of the Bill cannot be questioned. However, some small amendments regarding funding and the minutiae would probably be suitable. It is said the devil is in the detail.

There is a section of society that has been left behind. My friends, perhaps in 2003 to 2007, were given €500,000 to buy apartments with very little light in not-so-great parts of the city which would now cost, if they tried to sell them, €150,000 or €200,000. People are left saddled with debt. We also have families that might have lost their jobs, that have small amounts left on their mortgages and whose houses are worth quite a substantial amount, and banks are forcing them through the courts system even though the amount left on the mortgage is minimal compared to the value of the house. This is absolutely unfair. It does not matter how much one's house cost; if one has been there for 20 years, reared a family and invested a lot in one's area and community, one should not be forced through the courts system and the strain of being evicted, as has been referred to, from one's family home. It is an absolute disgrace.

I agree with Senator Humphreys. I am a solicitor and I can see that a frenzy is starting again. It is a bubble. Everyone is saying they must have a home. People are talking more about investment property. There is talk of going back to relaxing the mortgage credit lending rules, which I do not agree with. We saw from 2003 to 2007 that 100% mortgages were being given to people who had absolutely no income and perhaps no possibility of any income in the future. We must, therefore, be very mindful of not relaxing the credit rules, instead introducing measures that will increase supply. Fianna Fáil has looked at measures relating to VAT, planning and certification rules.There are ways of reducing the cost of building houses and ways of increasing supply. We also discussed the "use or it lose it" tax on land. There are many plots of land around the city which are left vacant, with owners sitting on them and not building because they are waiting for even more inflated prices, although they do not know when they are going to come. I think it is very unfair to have these vacant sites around the city, where people want to live.

Fianna Fáil is this week bringing in a mortgage arrears resolution Bill. One of the plans brought in by this Government was the PIP, or professional insolvency practitioner. The main reason this measure failed was because banks were given a veto on whether to implement the PIP plans. From the outset, there was an outcry that this was not going to work and, lo and behold, it did not work. I do not believe the PIP plan was the solution. The Fianna Fáil Bill will get rid of the banks' veto and will bring in a more streamlined courts system. I welcome this Bill and hope it will go some way towards helping people stay in their homes.

I am glad to support Senator Norris's Bill in some shape or form and I commend him on bringing it to the House. As he said, the real elephant in the room is supply. I do not think the number of people affected by arrears will be increasing from now on and the number seems to be slowly decreasing. At the same time, they are there and it will be very hard for them to get out of that trap. In the short and medium term, their situation will not get better unless Bills like this give them a chance to move on. We are a First World country. We should not have people who are almost imprisoned by their mortgage as this affects not only their family life but also their mental health. It is wrong that this would happen in this day and age. I again commend Senator Norris and I commend my colleague, Deputy McGuinness, and the others in the Visitors Gallery who have been spearheading this Bill.