Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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52. To ask the Minister for Finance the extent to which homeowners whose mortgage loan books have been acquired by unregulated third parties can be assured of being appropriately accommodated by such lending agencies in a way which has primary regard for the homeowner where he or she makes a proposal that is reasonable; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46517/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Where the purchaser of a loan book is not a regulated entity in Ireland, the purchaser may voluntarily apply the Central Bank codes when managing loan books. In the case of homeowners whose loan is now owned by an unregulated entity, the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears (CCMA)  may be applied in the same way that it would be by a regulated lender. The CCMA is designed to support co-operating borrowers and provides extensive protection to customers in difficulty.  It specifies the concrete actions lenders must take in the fair treatment of their customers in order to deal with their mortgage arrears situation as part of a resolution (or MARP) process; it also specifies the series of steps which borrowers need to take in order to engage with their lender.

Of course, voluntary compliance is not enforceable and the Government committed in March 2014 to ensuring that the same protections are available for all consumers whose loans have been sold.

The mission of the Government in bringing forward this legislation is straightforward: To ensure that borrowers whose loans are sold by a regulated entity to a currently unregulated entity maintain the same regulatory protections as they had prior to the sale, including under various Central Bank Codes (including the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears (CCMA)).

In July and August of this year the Department of Finance ran a public consultation seeking views on this proposed legislation. There have been nineteen submissions received from a range of respondents including the financial services industry, consumer groups, public representatives, individuals and other stakeholders.  Officials in the Department of Finance have carefully considered the submissions and have been working intensively with the Central Bank and the Office of the Attorney General to progress this legislation. My officials will meet with and brief the Joint Committee on Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform about the legislation on 3 December. It is anticipated that the legislation will be published by the end of this year.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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53. To ask the Minister for Finance the extent to which family home owners with mortgage arrears are accommodated by lending agencies to a similar extent to the support and tolerance the taxpayer through the State offered to the lending institutions in the bailout; the extent to which his Department continues to encourage such development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46518/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The fair resolution of the mortgage arrears problem is a key priority for Government and a comprehensive strategy, in line with the main recommendations of the 2011 Keane Report, has been developed.  The implementation of this strategy is overseen at Government level by the Construction 2020, Housing, Planning and Mortgage Arrears sub-committee which is chaired by the Taoiseach.

The Government has significantly advanced a number of key measures in this regard, including:

1. An intensification by the Central Bank of its engagement with mortgage lenders to require them, under the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Targets (MART) process, to propose and conclude sustainable and durable alternative arrangements to their customers in mortgage arrears of greater than 90 days;

2. Significant reforms to personal insolvency and the establishment of the Insolvency Service of Ireland, to make it more accessible for people with unsustainable personal and mortgage debt to address their position;

3. Updating the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears to provide safeguards to cooperating borrowers while also promoting and encouraging efforts by both lenders and borrowers to meaningfully address mortgage arrears or pre-arrears;

4. Mortgage to rent which is now available as a social housing response to allow people to remain in their house, where possible; and

5. The provision of an independent mortgage information and advice service.

The Central Bank's Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears (CCMA) provides a strong consumer protection framework to ensure that borrowers struggling to keep up mortgage repayments are treated in a fair and transparent manner by their lender, and that long term resolution is sought by lenders with each of their borrowers in arrears. Under the CCMA, if a borrower is not satisfied with the way that their lender is dealing with them or if they think the lender is not complying with the CCMA, the borrower can make a complaint to their lender. Borrowers also have the right to appeal to the lender's Appeals Board if they are not happy with the alternative repayment arrangement offered or where a lender declines to offer an alternative repayment arrangement or if they believe they have been wrongly classified as not co-operating.   If the borrower is still unhappy with the outcome of the appeal or the complaint made to the lender, they can refer the matter to the Financial Services Ombudsman.

The monthly mortgage restructures and arrears data published by my Department also provides an impetus for those MART banks to increase the pace of provision of mortgage restructures.  The Department's latest publication, with data for the end of September 2014, shows that the number of principal dwelling home or PDH mortgage accounts in arrears of greater than 90 days has fallen by over 2,000 accounts in the month to 67,854 accounts. In addition, the publication showed that total PDH mortgage accounts in arrears were now below 100,000 for the first time since the financial crisis.

Taken together, the framework is in place to enable banks to work with distressed homeowners to reach sustainable solutions for dealing with their personal indebted situations.  However, early and effective engagement between borrowers and lenders is key to resolving the cases of mortgage difficulty.  Where there is effective and meaningful engagement by all parties regarding a mortgage difficulty, the data shows that an increasing number of durable long term mortgage restructures is being put in place.  However, it is accepted that it will be necessary for lenders and borrowers to continue to build on this.