Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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79. To ask the Minister for Finance the action the Government has taken to assist the almost 80,000 families in arrears on their family homes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10015/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that the latest Central Bank bulletin on mortgage arrears, published on 12th December, indicated that there were 56,350 mortgages in arrears for more than ninety days.  This represents 7.6 per cent of all residential mortgage loan accounts.  The Deputy will also know from the latest Central Bank bulletin that of the total stock of 79,562 PDH accounts that were in arrears at end September, 2016, 26,531 (33 per cent) were classified as restructured at that time.  There were 121,140 mortgage accounts classified as restructured at end September 2016, of which 88 per cent were deemed to be meeting the terms of their current restructure arrangement.  It is, therefore, reasonable to take the view that a significant percentage of borrowers in mortgage arrears are engaging with their lender, making their agreed mortgage payments and will in time exit from mortgage arrears.

The Deputy will also be aware that the Programme for a Partnership Government and the Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness sets out the Government's priorities in relation to dealing with mortgage arrears.  I wrote to the Governor of the Central Bank to request that an assessment be undertaken of the range of available sustainable restructure solutions offered by banks and non-bank entities.  The Central Bank completed its assessment last year and their report is published on the Department of Finance website.  The assessment finds a comprehensive range of available restructuring solutions being offered and delivered by both bank and non-bank entities and notes considerable progress in addressing mortgage arrears since the peak.

The Deputy may also be aware of other initiatives being rolled out across Government, such as the Abhaile mortgage arrears resolution service, and amendments to the mortgage-to-rent (MTR) scheme which will make the MTR process quicker, more transparent, easier to navigate for borrowers and ultimately more accessible to more households in mortgage distress.  The Department of Housing, Planning, Community & Local Government is also exploring potential mechanisms that would facilitate investment into the residential market by private equity firms using the MTR model so that greater numbers of indebted borrowers may remain in their own homes as tenants.