Ray Butler (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to speak about the proposed mortgage restructuring Bill 2017 to be introduced by Deputy Durkan. This Bill will apply to family homes and small enterprises and seeks to curtail the activities of primary and secondary lenders that are insisting on repayment of mortgage in full even though borrowers have been making repayments within their capacity for several years. I have been dealing with a case on behalf of a family comprising a husband, wife and two young children. When the husband became ill, the family fell behind in their mortgage repayments. While they put reasonable monthly repayment offers to the company, they were not accepted. The mortgage was then sold to a secondary lender, which was ruthless even though it purchased the mortgage for 30% of its market value. The family had to surrender the family home and is now living in social housing under the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme, which is costing the taxpayer €1,100 per month. We bailed out the banks to the tune of €68 billion and they are now selling loans and this is resulting in many families and taxpayers ending up on the streets. Having attended the courts, I know that there are many similar cases before them. Judges are adjourning cases because they do not want to deal with the issues arising.

The proposed Bill contains three elements, namely, the wiping out of compound interest on the grounds that the lenders caused the problem in the first instance and were rescued by the banking bailout and ultimately by bank customers as taxpayers; the introduction of a new code of conduct to be applied by the Central Bank to ensure the repossessions do not take place in a situation where the borrower has made or is making reasonable payments in accordance with his or her income; and the restructuring of the extent to which lenders can pursue borrowers, within reason. The consequences of the actions of the companies that have purchased the banks loans are often fatal. We have the backing of the Business Retail Union of Ireland for this Bill. I ask the Minister for Finance come to the House in January to discuss this proposal in an attempt to address this serious problem.