Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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36. To ask the Minister for Finance his views that the banking sector is acting with sufficient haste and concern to address the rising levels of mortgage debt; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13067/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Central Bank of Ireland data indicates that the overall level of residential mortgage debt has declined in recent years.  In September 2009, primary dwelling mortgage debt amounted to €118.7 billion but at end December 2014 this had declined to €104.9 billion.  Aggregate "buy to let" mortgage balances have also declined in recent years and amounted to €28 billion at end 2014.

Although the overall position has shown an improvement in recent quarters, within this overall amount of residential mortgages there is a significant number of mortgages in arrears and difficulty which continue to require attention.  The Government has put in place a broad strategy to address the problem and a key part of this was the 2013 Central Bank Mortgage Arrears Resolution Targets (MART) framework which set out demanding quantitative targets for mortgage arrears resolution at the six main Irish mortgage lenders who account for around 90% of the mortgages in Ireland. These targets required the six lenders to meet targets at quarterly intervals to both "propose" and "conclude" sustainable solutions in relation to both PDH and BTL mortgagees more than 90 days in arrears.  This strategy had a beneficial impact as the number of mortgage accounts in arrears has declined and the number of restructures put in place to deal with mortgage difficulty has increased.  This is, however, an area that remains under continuous review. More and concerted action can be undertaken by the banks to assist customers in arrears and as the Taoiseach has previously announced, my Department is considering a range of options to support the existing framework and to improve the uptake of personal insolvency solutions.