Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last night I got a telephone call from somebody I dearly love who told me that today she will be homeless by lunch hour and her property will be taken from her by a bank. It deeply disturbs me the way things are going on. This woman is in her 60s. I lost my house in my 30s and while it is possible to recover when one is in one's 30s, it is totally impossible to do so in one's 60s. The heartbreaking thing behind this story is that this woman has been through several court cases. There was not a word, letter or telephone call for almost seven years but yesterday, she received a telephone call to say her case would be before the High Court today and she would be out of her home within six months. She has nowhere to go. I am mindful of the woman in a film I saw some years ago who had her entire life in a group of bags or a shopping trolley and that was it. That is all there was. l asked myself what had gone wrong and there are no simple answers. The house was repeatedly sold from one lending agency to another. I assume that by the time the house was eventually purchased by the people who are now justifiably recovering their asset - and I am not for one moment complaining about that - they probably bought it for 10 cent in the euro. That is the problem. If somebody said it to me that I could have bought the house for 10 cent in the euro then I would have bought it and would have seen to it that the person was not thrown out on the street. There are families all over this country who would do the same thing, rather than see somebody they love suffer. I am totally baffled that we can sit idly by and allow these major multinationals come in here and buy up properties at 10 cent or 20 cent in the euro yet evict Irish citizens.

I was president of the Teachers Union of Ireland when we cut the pay of our members by up to 30% and we did so to save this country. While none of us liked the measure, and people in this House took similar cuts, we did it because the country needed it. Can we not now in some way take control? Can we set up a housing agency that will be offered these houses at 10 cent or 20 cent in the euro? Can we ensure that when somebody is about to be chucked out on the street that the house is sold to that agency, which allows the person to continue to live in the property? I am talking about a woman in her 60s. I am sick of listening to calls for debates on homelessness. I am sick of listening to the Minister for House, Planning and Local Government being lashed verbally. There is no simple answer. Can we have a debate that might consider how to deal with deviant mortgages and people who are about to find themselves on the street? I am heartbroken today for this particular person. I wish I could go, pick her up, take her in my arms and take her away. I do not want her to suffer the pain that she is suffering today. I would do anything to take her pain away. I respect the right of the bank to seize its property but, good God, I respect the woman's right to live out her life in some sort of peace.