Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2015
129. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if he will direct the Central Bank of Ireland to no longer accept the repossession or voluntary surrender of the family home as a sustainable solution under the mortgage arrears resolution targets. [24537/15]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, the Central Bank is independent in carrying out its functions and it would be inappropriate for me to seek to undermine its regulatory or supervisory authority.
In respect of Mortgage Arrears Resolution Targets, I am informed by the Central Bank that it has determined that relying on common quarterly solution targets across all banks is no longer appropriate. The Central Bank has written to each bank setting out new requirements that, inter alia,:
- concluded sustainable solutions are in place for the vast majority of distressed borrowers by the end of 2015;
- they meet the 'terms being met' target of 75 per cent of concluded solutions to the end of 2015 and beyond;
- they continue to comply with the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears;
- where they take legal action that may result in loss of ownership for a borrower, they should be prepared to re-engage with the borrower and explore alternative solutions if the borrower re-engages; and
- they engage fully and appropriately in the process set out in the Personal Insolvency Act 2012.
I strongly believe that early constructive engagement by borrowers with their lender is the most effective way to avoid family home repossession. This is borne out by the most recent Residential Mortgage Arrears and Repossessions statistical release for Q1 2015, which indicates that over 117,000 restructure arrangements have been put in place on primary dwelling homes (PDH) to the end of March and that over 85% of these are deemed to be meeting the terms of their arrangement.
