Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 235: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide data held by the Financial Regulator on the numbers of residential mortgage holders in arrears of more than three months on the books of all the regulated banks and building societies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37161/09]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 236: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide data held by the Financial Regulator on the numbers of mortgage holders who have restructured or rescheduled their mortgages over the past year, including the taking of a payment holiday or switching to an interest only mortgage; the way these figures compare with the figures for 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37162/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 235 and 236 together.

While the Financial Regulator does not hold all of the specific data that the Deputy refers to, it is due to publish its findings in the near future of a themed inspection into arrears and repossessions. This is a follow on from the last such Financial Regulator report which was published in December 2008.

In the December 2008 report, the figures to June 2008 were collected during a review of the procedures that are in place across all mortgage lenders in the market in relation to arrears and repossessions. The examination shows that at end June 2008, 13,931 mortgage accounts (1.44% of residential accounts at end June 2008) were over 3 months in arrears, compared with end December 2006 when there were 11,252 accounts over 3 months in arrears (1.21% of residential accounts at end 2006). By end June 2008, credit institutions repossessed 16 properties and specialist mortgage lenders repossessed 13.

Between January 2005 and June 2008, lenders repossessed 128 properties by court order. In total, the residential properties repossessed by court order in this period represent 0.01% of the total number of residential mortgage accounts reported to be held at end June 2008.

On the issue of providing up-to-date statistics on the level of arrears and repossessions, my Department is currently liaising with the Central Bank regarding the Central Bank's plans to undertake further work in this area.

The Deputy may wish to note that the Irish Banking Federation presented statistics on arrears and repossessions for the whole of 2008 to the Oireachtas Committee on Social and Family Affairs on 24 June 2009. It said there were 96 repossessions in total last year, which is 0.01% of all mortgages. There are 35 repossessions in the UK for every one in Ireland, taking population balance into account along with other factors and 1.44% of mortgages here are in arrears for three months or over. The figures they gave were for 2008. They stated the figure for the first quarter of this year is 40 repossessions.