Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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54. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to put the code of conduct on mortgage arrears into primary legislation. [30032/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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This Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears (CCMA) is issued under Section 117 of the Central Bank Act 1989.  The CCMA, therefore, is a statutory code and the Central Bank of Ireland has the power to administer sanctions for a contravention of this Code. Furthermore, the December 2013 Report of the Expert Group on Repossessions, which was chaired by the Department of Justice and Equality, noted that the Courts have displayed a willingness to acknowledge the CCMA's role and to have regard to its provisions in repossession proceedings. The Courts also stated that, under the law as it currently stands, it appears that "compliance with the CCMA is a necessary condition for lenders seeking to obtain Court orders for repossession of primary residences".  In view of this, while these matters will be kept under review, I currently have no plans to specifically incorporate the provisions of the CCMA directly into primary legislation. 

However, it should also be noted that the recent Directive on credit agreements for consumers relating to residential immovable property (generally known as the Mortgage Credit Directive) provides for enhanced consumer protection provisions.  This EU legislative framework for mortgage credit will address arrears and foreclosure, amongst other issues to be considered further during the transposition of the Directive into Irish law. Included in the provisions is a requirement for the adoption of measures to require creditors to exercise reasonable forbearance before foreclosure proceedings are initiated.