Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 111: To ask the Minister for Finance the position regarding the action that has been taken to date to assist those in mortgage arrears following on from the publication of the report of the interdepartmental mortgage arrears working group; the timeline in which he expects recommendations form these reports to be acted upon, information on co-ordination of efforts between him and other Departments in an effort to enact some of the recommendations of this report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1266/12]

Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 119: To ask the Minister for Finance the progress that has been made regarding the implementation of the strategic approach suggested by the nterdepartmental mortgage arrears working group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1408/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 111 and 119 together.

Last October the Government published the Report of the Inter-Departmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears and, as the Deputies are aware, the Report was subsequently the subject of an extensive Dáil debate.

The implementation of the report's recommendations is a key part of the Government's ongoing efforts to tackle mortgage difficulty.

A Steering Group, chaired by a Second Secretary General in my Department, has been established to oversee and drive the overall implementation of the report's recommendations and to report regularly to the Economic Management Council and to Government on this. In addition to the Department of Finance, the Steering Group also consists of senior representation from the Departments of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Justice and Equality, Social Protection and Public Expenditure and Reform. The Central Bank is also represented on the Group.

Separate working groups have also been established to progress the individual work streams of this broad work area and these groups report to the overall Steering Group. Additionally, a dedicated team is being established in my Department, with resources drawn from the relevant Government Departments, to progress the relevant initiatives. This will be supplemented, as necessary, with additional legal, financial and technical expertise as the implementation work proceeds.

Significant progress has already been achieved across a number of the individual work areas.

* The Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence has produced an initial General Scheme of a Personal Insolvency Bill. This is being finalized for consideration by Government this month before it is available for publication. The General Scheme will propose solutions to the sensitive issue of finding the right balance for resolving problems with secured debt.

* On "mortgage to rent", the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government has advanced work with a bank and social housing association to pilot a scheme in order to test the practicality associated with such a measure in advance of a wider roll out.

* Regarding the engagement with the banks, the Central Bank, as the regulator of credit institutions, has now received mortgage arrears resolution strategies and implementation plans from all mortgage lenders and these are being considered by the Central Bank.

* Finally, work has commenced on the necessary steps to put in place the mortgage advisory function as recommended by the Inter-Departmental group.

The Government has also indicated that, in its ongoing consideration of appropriate measures to address this problem, it will take careful note of the suggestions made by Deputies and also by outside groups.

It is the Government's intention to continue to work intensively on this matter and to significantly further advance all these work measures in the early part of 2012.