Are we all settled down now?

We are only getting warmed up.

It is only tokenism. The Government must get real.

Gran Canaria.

The Government will not win any election on housing.

The Ceann Comhairle has a very calming effect. We all went quiet.

Four years ago Deputy Michael McGrath proposed legislation to set up an independent mortgage resolution office to provide a proper intermediary force between the banks and people in mortgage distress and to ensure the banks would not have a veto over the resolution of mortgage arrears and agreements. He ignored it and month after month since then he has ignored pleas from the Opposition to change the relationship between the banks and people in mortgage arrears and to change the veto the banks have over any debt resolution agreement resulting from any process. There have been up to 586 repossessions since January. That is a 500% increase on this time last year. The majority of these are homes, not investment properties. The Taoiseach will recall that it was Government legislation in 2013 circumventing the Dunne judgment that allowed the repossession train to start. Research has already shown that 1,000 homes have been repossessed. It is now estimated that there are up to 8,000 civil bills before the Circuit Court relating to repossessions.

We are facing a major crisis because of Government inaction in relation to people in mortgage arrears and the anxiety and distress that has happened as a result. That is on top of the homelessness crisis and the appalling fact that up to 1,000 children are in emergency accommodation in this city alone.

Could the Deputy ask a question, please?

I put it to the Taoiseach that he has ignored the genuine calls from this side of the House for an end to the bank veto, and various legislative propositions we have made. When will the Government remove the veto the banks currently have on debt resolution mechanisms? The Personal Insolvency Act has been very ineffective, and it has failed. We hear leaks via the media that something will happen four years from the time Deputy Michael McGrath first tabled Private Member's legislation, which if the Government had accepted, would have paved the way for a far more reasonable approach to the issue. It is a shocking indictment of what the Government has been doing for the past four years.

We have dealt with the issue on a number of occasions already.

No, the Government has not. That is the problem.

The number of mortgage accounts in arrears, that is, all arrears from one day past due, stood at 84,717 at the end of February this year. That is a decline of more than 3,000 compared to the January 2015 figure. The total number of mortgage accounts that have been restructured stood at 106,402 at the end of February. That means people were able to sit down and discuss the distress of the mortgage involved and in 106,402 cases, a sustainable solution for the future was arrived at. The number of mortgage accounts in arrears of greater than 90 days continues to fall, decreasing by 1,730 to 59,138, with a decrease of 482 mortgage accounts in arrears of greater than 720 days, which stood at 28,900 at the end of this year. The numbers in very long-term arrears is a matter of major concern. It is important to note that the latest Central Bank data show the number in arrears for more than 720 days drop for the banks in quarter 4 of 2014 for the first time. The Government wants the maximum number of mortgage holders in very long-term arrears to be able to afford their mortgage, to retain ownership of their houses where they can afford it, and if they cannot, to have viable and easily accessible options available to either stay in the house or to have access to alternative housing.

Deputy Martin mentioned repossessions. The Government does not see repossessions as a policy solution, and every action that has been taken since coming to office has been designed to ensure that the maximum number of people and families can continue to live in their houses. According to the Central Bank report from the final quarter of 2014, of the 429 properties that were taken into possession by the banks, less than one third, or 123, were repossessed as a result of a court order, while the remaining two thirds were voluntarily surrendered or were abandoned. As Deputy Martin is aware, there has been much coverage of the increase in civil bills being lodged by financial institutions. It is important to say that the commencement of the court process is not a signal or an end in itself that repossession will occur. The Minister for Finance has stated that it may often be the case that the process prompts borrowers to re-engage with the lender in the first place to find a solution. Often, those cases are adjourned. I listened to a commentary on the news recently on actual cases which allows both parties time to find a solution and to remove the bank and the borrower from the legal process. It is fair to say that while there are a number of options available involving, for example, the Money Advice & Budgeting Service, MABS, or the insolvency agency, such solutions do not work in a number of cases, and accordingly, the Government has committed to bring forward a number of further solutions that will deal with the question of really distressed mortgages where the option can be had for another alternative in respect of those borrowers so that in the vast majority of cases, the option will be there for families or tenants to remain in a house on foot of a variety of solutions.

Deputy Martin mentioned the issue of the veto. The further options that will be brought forward by the Government next week will deal with cases involving serious distress that are outside the scope of the discussions that have taken place to date, following which more than 100,000 cases have been sorted out. However, we remain concerned about the long-term mortgage indebtedness in those cases.

I did not just mention bank repossessions and the bank veto, they were the main part of the question I put to the Taoiseach, but he chose to ignore them until the very end of his reply. The statistics revealed yesterday showed there were more than 586 repossessions since January, and 383 of those related to homes. We know from research by Mr. Seamus Coffey in UCC that 1,000 court-enforced repossessions have taken place already. We also know that 8,000 civil bills are before the courts as we speak. It is not good enough to say that the banks only take people to court so that they will engage in the process. Banks take people to court because they load the trigger and they can pull the trigger whenever they want. It puts the person who holds the mortgage in an impossible position and causes enormous distress and anxiety. I have dealt with cases where people had engaged. The Taoiseach takes the side of the banks at all times, as does the Minister for Finance. The Taoiseach is doing it again today.

It is a bankers' charter.

The Taoiseach said the banks bring people to court because they have not engaged prior to that, but many people engage before they get any legal letter, and they still get the legal letters, with all the anxiety that goes with that.

Could Deputy Martin ask a question, please?

For four years the Taoiseach has been asked to end the veto the banks have over the entire process. The Bill that introduced personal insolvency practitioners did not work. The Taoiseach called them in to hear from them approximately six months ago. Something must happen to change the status quo. Is the Taoiseach going to change the veto the banks have over the entire process - "Yes" or "No"?

I reject Deputy Martin's assertion that the Government continually takes the side of the banks.

The people know it.

That is entirely false. It is beneath Deputy Martin to say that.

How is it beneath me?

Be that as it may-----

The Government's record speaks for itself.

That is Deputy Martin's usual populist line. I remind Deputy Martin above all people, when he speaks of four years ago, that the mess he left behind was the cause of all of this.

Deny, deny, deny.

People should not be allowed to forget that. When Deputy Martin is in Carlow and Kilkenny he should tell them that his Government put €34 billion into Anglo Irish Bank.

They voted for two elections four years ago. Did they?

That money is lost and Deputy Martin was the cause of losing it.

Did the Taoiseach get a ten-year term?

The Taoiseach voted for it.

Part of that was responsible for the total collapse of the construction sector. That relates to the questions Deputy Cowen asked of the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, just before I came into the Chamber.

The Taoiseach has not dealt with them anyway. I can tell him that. There was one in Mayo in three years.

I am sorry.

I asked the Taoiseach about the bank veto.

The Taoiseach should look after his own back yard.

I reject Deputy Martin's assertion that I am an advocate for the banks.

The Taoiseach is digging.

My comments all along in respect of banks and the way they have treated people have been that it is not satisfactory, but it requires-----

The Taoiseach did not say that earlier.

The Taoiseach sounds like the Leader of the Opposition.

-----in the 109,000 cases that were sorted out that people were able to sit across a table and work out an agreed solution to those cases where mortgage distress applied.

They have a big stick over their heads.

The people on the housing list are bunched.

I said to Deputy Martin that the Government will introduce a number of further options next week to deal with distressed cases, in particular those that are in long-term arrears, such as I have pointed out. I will not give the Deputy the details now as the Government will announce them next week.

Why not? Why could the Taoiseach not announce them last week?

I call Deputy Adams.

Because I had other things to do.

It is just all spinning. It is not because the Taoiseach had other things to do.

The Taoiseach thinks it might get him out of a hole in the Carlow-Kilkenny by-election.

If the economy-----

It is more news management. It is all spinning.

Would Deputy Durkan listen? I called Deputy Adams. Would Deputy Durkan stay quiet?

I am sorry. I could not help it.

Is the Kilkenny man back on board? Is he canvassing?

Go raibh maith agat, a-----

I call on Deputy Durkan's neighbour to stay quiet as well.

I am sorry, a Cheann Comhairle. I was just inquiring about Deputy McGuinness.

He is back from Lanzarote.

Go raibh maith agat arís, a Cheann Comhairle.

He is far more popular in Kilkenny than Phil Hogan is.