Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the new Minister of State to the House. I congratulate him on his appointment and I wish him well. This is vitally important legislation. It is much more important than the discussion that has taken place over the past week about judicial appointments because this matters to people in their daily lives. This is about keeping them in their family homes and protecting their physical and mental well-being.

This is one of the most important Bills to come before this Seanad because it is about protecting real people who have been disenfranchised by the financial world within the State supported by the Government of the day, whether it was the current and previous Governments or the Fianna Fáil-led Government which was in office prior to them. The banks were bailed out and supported, but they have offered no support in return to those who wish to remain in their homes. That is a disgrace on the part of our financial and political institutions.

The legislation may have its flaws. I do not recognise them but others have commented on them. The legislation deserves respect and support. I congratulate Senator Norris and, in particular, the chairman of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, Deputy McGuinness, for bringing it forward. It is radical, creative and reflects outside-the-box thinking that very often does not happen within the Civil Service. The financial sector is not only running the political show in Ireland; it is running the political show across the world. I did not understand this until I paid to do a masters degree in finance a few years ago. I soon became educated in the fact that big finance is running governments across the world. Policy decisions that are taken, whether it is in this House or the other House, or in parliaments throughout the world, are infiltrated by vested interests from the financial sector disguised as lobbyists and, therefore, those interests are always protected against the best interests of the consumer, or the home owner in this case. The Master of the High Court and other eminent researchers have said that the repossession statistics will increase at least fivefold over the next two years. Last year, there were approximately 5,000 repossessions and this will increase to 25,000 over the next two years if nothing is done.

There has to be an alternative solution because currently banks are frustrating people to the point of breaking them and, in some cases, they are using receivers. They are paid to do this. Vulnerable home owners are scared out of their wits. They are seeking medical interventions and they are forced to give up. Eventually, their homes are repossessed through the courts and they end up on the social housing waiting list. It will cost the State much more in the long term than the Bill would ever cost. The legislation provides a solution that can be tweaked if needs be but it is the path to sustainable homes for many people.

Receivers in the buy-to-let sector are operating on behalf of banks and vulture funds. The banks will say the receiver is acting on behalf of the borrower but that is not the case. I have a case where a receiver was appointed and sold two properties for a total of €127,000 but only €62,000 was allowed against the loans. The receiver, therefore, took more than half the money raised. The State is permitting banks and receivers regulated by the Central Bank to operate in this fashion while the borrower has no protection. That is unacceptable in a democratic society.

We have to stand up to big finance because it is laughing at us at the moment. The Bill is a step in the direction of taking them on properly and standing up on behalf of the ordinary man and woman who has taken out a mortgage and hit hard times, and who through on fault of his or her own, has lost a job and is unable to repay an unsustainable mortgage. The mortgage is a joint agreement between the lender and the borrower and that does not apply when the bank calls in the loan because the banks are taking no share of the loss. They say they may be doing underhand deals but there is not much evidence of that.

With regard to the fund that is to be established, the EU has an obligation to assist the State to deal with this residual issue because the ECB put such pressure on Ireland in 2008 and 2009. This makes economic sense and there are many ways to justify it economically but I do not have time to go into that. In the long term, this would be cost effective for the people affected and for the State. It would provide value for money and keep people in their homes. Reference was made to the need to provide additional housing. If the Bill is not accepted, there will be a need to do so for those who are in houses with unsustainable mortgages.

There are many ways of looking at this. If these issues are not dealt with, our mental health budget will have to be increased because people are at breaking point. I have visited families who were so distraught that they were unable to explain their circumstances. How can they take on the might of these financial institutions? When they seek legal advice, that is costly and they may not have the money to pursue it. There are many caveats. The Bill is sensible and I wish it well. I am happy to support it and I commend Senator Norris, Deputy McGuinness and the representative groups on the work they have put in. They are bringing forward a creative solution using outside-the-box thinking, which is urgently required. Approximately 10% of the 760,000 mortgages in the State are in arrears of 90 days or more. When one drills down into that number, €8 billion worth is in arrears of 360 days or more. This serious issue is coming down the tracks and if it is not dealt with now, there will be an avalanche of destruction over the next 24 months.