Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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158. To ask the Minister for Finance the maximum age of the borrower that the mortgage repayment period may be extended to in relation to the restructuring of a residential mortgage between a borrower and a lender; the number and value of such mortgage restructurings in which the repayment period has been extended to at least 70 years of age; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39530/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Central Bank that their internal guidelines on "Sustainable Mortgage Arrears Solutions" specify that an age limit above 70 years can apply to mortgage restructure arrangements where there is appropriate evidence to support it. With regard to the sustainability of solutions to address mortgage arrears, the guidelines obligate the lender, in circumstances where a borrower subject to a compulsory retirement age is seeking a term extension beyond that term, to conduct an assessment with a view to providing evidence to demonstrate that the borrower can service the revised loan repayments to maturity on an affordable basis. An overall ceiling of 70 years of age will apply for the Central Bank to consider a term extension sustainable unless such evidence of affordability for loan repayments to maturity is available.

The Deputy will be aware that the Central Bank publishes quarterly bulletins on Residential Mortgage Arrears and Repossessions Statistics which provides the number and value of accounts categorised as restructured, including information on term extensions. The latest bulletin was released on 12th December. The Central Bank does not, however, publish restructuring information broken down by age characteristics. It is not possible, therefore, to provide the numerical breakdown of mortgage restructurings for mortgages that have been extended to at least 70 years sought by the Deputy.

Finally, it is  worth noting that Mortgage Arrears and Repossessions data released by the Central Bank for quarter 3-2016 provided further evidence that progress is being made in addressing mortgage arrears, with the number of PDH mortgage accounts in arrears continuing to fall for the 13th consecutive quarter. In addition, over 121,000 PDH mortgage accounts were classified as restructured, of which 88% were deemed to be meeting the terms of their restructure arrangement. This shows that where a borrower actively engages with their lender with a view to agreeing a sustainable arrangement to address their mortgage arrears, it is more likely that an equitable arrangement will be found and that borrower will be able to remain in their family home.