I propose to take Questions Nos. 18, 21, 28, 35 and 92 together.
The Government is conscious of the significant difficulty some home owners are experiencing in meeting their mortgage obligations. This is an issue of the utmost concern and the Government is taking a number of significant measures to address the problem.
However, the vast majority of homeowners wish and continue to meet their mortgage obligations and it is important to maintain, as far as possible, that situation. The approach of Government to the mortgage arrears problem has been clear and it is that those mortgage holders who can meet their obligations should do so and that appropriate assistance should be afforded only to those mortgage holders, or other borrowers, who are experiencing real and genuine difficulty in meeting their commitments. The measures being implemented to assist mortgage holders in difficulty include personal insolvency reform, the implementation of the "mortgage to rent" initiative, direct engagement with individual mortgage lenders on their mortgage arrears resolution strategies and the development by lenders of realistic options for their customers that are experiencing mortgage difficulty and the provision of a mortgage advisory function.
The recent IMF World Economic Outlook report, and its chapter on household debt, is a very useful contribution to the range of measures being considered to address the global economic situation. However, it should be noted that the examples examined in the report in the chapter dealing with household debt related to particular countries and times, and that some of the debt restructuring examples investigated were more successful than others. The particular circumstances of each individual case, therefore, was a relevant factor in the outcome of the action. Therefore, while one should seek to learn from previous examples, it is also important to exercise caution in drawing general conclusions from the report and applying them to the current Irish economic position. Indeed, in their public comments on the report, the IMF staff indicated that they were not stating that such a blanket approach should be taken in the case of Ireland and indeed indicated that, in cases of constrained fiscal space, which unfortunately is the position Ireland currently faces, that a targeted case by case debt restructuring approach may be the most appropriate approach. This case by case approach is consistent with the recommendations of the "Keane Report" on which the Government approach to address this problem is broadly based. The current funding situation of the Irish fiscal and banking sectors are also relevant factors to be borne in mind. Ireland is maintaining close contact with the IMF, and the other Troika authorities, in the development of its personal insolvency reform proposals and also on the wider approach to tackle mortgage arrears problem, and will take full account of their views in the further development and implementation of these proposals.
