The Deputy will be aware that, under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service and I have no role in the matter. Section 4(3) of the 1998 Act provides that the Courts Service is independent in the performance of its functions, which includes the provision of information on the courts system. I am informed that statistical data on orders for possession is available on the Courts Service website, www.courts.ie.
However, in order to be of assistance, I have had inquires made and the Courts Service has informed me that the information sought by the Deputy for the months of April and May can only be retrieved by way of a manual examination of each County Registrar's court list for both months. As I am sure the Deputy will appreciate, this would require the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of staff time and resources which cannot be justified.
Statistical data in respect of the 1st quarter of 2015 is currently being compiled. It is important to note that the number of civil bills issued does not reflect either the number of orders for possession granted or necessarily equate with repossessions as it is up to the person or company who obtained the order for possession to pursue its execution.
Therefore, relative to the number of civil bills issued, a small portion end up as repossessions since in many cases the civil bill gives rise to engagement of the borrower with the bank resulting in either an informal deal or a Personal Insolvency Agreement.
The Expert Group on Repossessions in their report drew attention to the fact that any substantial and sustained increase in future demand for possession orders would require consideration of the court systems capacity to operate effectively and recommended that the capacity of the court system should be kept under review. The Courts Service are currently undertaking a review and assessment of the capacity of the court system to continue to operate effectively having regard to the sustained increased in the number of civil bills issued during the course of 2014. I am informed that this assessment should be complete by mid May 2015.
The Deputy will be aware that this Government has put in place a number of legislative provisions regarding protection of the family home in cases where repossession of the property is being sought, most recently in section 2 of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2013. In addition, this Government has put in place a broad strategy to address the problem of mortgage arrears and family home repossessions. This has included an extensive suite of interventions designed to address the problem including:
- specific Central Bank targets for the banks through the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Targets (MART);
- the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears produced by the Central Bank sets out how mortgage lenders must treat borrowers in or facing mortgage arrears;
- extensive recasting of the personal insolvency legislation;
- the provision of advice through Department of Social Protection-led initiatives; and
- the mortgage-to-rent scheme which is designed to assist borrowers in an unsustainable mortgage position to remain in their homes through the involvement of social housing agencies.
The effective management of the mortgage arrears issue is, however, an area that remains under continuous review. More and concerted action can be undertaken by the banks to assist customers in arrears and, as the Taoiseach has previously announced, the Government is considering a range of options to support the existing framework and to improve the uptake of personal insolvency solutions. I think that it is also proper to reiterate that the Government's advice has always been that borrowers who find themselves in arrears should engage with their lending institution with a view to reaching a solution to their difficulties and I would encourage people to avail of the available services, where appropriate.
