Mortgage repossession legislation
Joe Higgins challenges Government and Central Bank statements encouraging repossessions, asking whether legislation will merely address the High Court loophole or protect distressed homeowners and reduce unsustainable debt. The Taoiseach says Government seeks fair individual resolutions, with repossession only a last resort.
No rest for the Labour Party. Jack O'Connor is trying to do that.
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The Central Bank and the Secretary General of the Department of Finance in turn have given rise to major concern among many people with distressed mortgages. Essentially, they have been urging that people should be turfed out of their homes by the banks in terms that-----
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-----are full of cruelty and cold-bloodedness. It is one of the most traumatic things that can happen to somebody.
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The Taoiseach has responded to me already and the Government has said, in essence, that it will bring in legislation to facilitate that. Is that still the Taoiseach's intention? What kind of legislation will be brought forward? Will it be simply to close the loophole from the High Court case, which prohibited evictions, or will it bring in legislation which is needed to protect people's right to their home and to write down impossible debt?
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Government wants to have a fair and transparent process for dealing with all of those cases that are in distress. I have pointed out on many occasions that this is about ensuring that a resolution, and a solution, can be got in each individual case, which are all different, in order that the people concerned can be taken out of the limbo they are in and contribute to the economy. The last resort clearly identified by Government, and referred to by banks, is the question of repossession of any of these houses. The majority of people involved in this can have resolutions brought about for their security and their future in a way that does not involve repossession.
The Government will deal with the question of the loophole in the law because that loophole was being used by some lending institutions to say they cannot settle with clients in particular positions. It is only to have a process that is fair and transparent in the interests of the clients to ensure they will not lose their houses but will have a resolution they can meet and with which the lending institutions are satisfied.