Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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299. To ask the Minister for Finance if the Central Bank of Ireland has estimated the number of residential and buy-to-let mortgage accounts on which no payment has been made for more than one year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15405/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) that the requested breakdown in respect of PDH and BTL mortgage accounts on which no payment has been made for more than one year is unavailable. However, the CBI website contains data which shows the number of PDH and BTL accounts that are in arrears of more than 360 days.  It can be accessed at the following link,

It is important to  stress, however, that these figures do not necessarily imply that no payment has been made on these accounts for more than one year. It means that the arrears balance on these accounts is equivalent to 360 (or more) days past due. For example, if a consumer made half repayments for a period of two years, then an account would have an arrears balance equivalent to one year of missed repayments.  It is also the case that my own Department's mortgage arrears data is set out in a similar way and does not include a breakdown of the number of PDH and BTL mortgage accounts on which no payment has been made for more than one year. 

The numbers show that in the vast majority of cases engagement between banks and borrowers works.  According to CBI data, almost 115,000 mortgage accounts were classified as re-structured at the end of 2014.  This represented an increase of about 30,000 accounts over the course of 2014. 85% of these restructured mortgages were deemed to be meeting the terms of their restructure arrangement and for some solutions it reached well over 90%. Real solutions tailored to the needs of borrowers are available where engagement takes place.The challenge is to encourage borrowers and lenders who are in long term arrears situations to engage and reach solutions.