Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate on the Keane report on mortgage arrears. The combined issue of personal debt and mortgage arrears is a significant social and economic problem facing thousands of households across the State. The Keane report is not the Government's final response to the mortgage crisis. Rather, it is a measure of our commitment to it. It is a prescriptive document - a blueprint for action which sets out a suite of options to be considered by the Cabinet in the coming weeks in conjunction with various stakeholders.

It is important that we infuse this debate with some element of positivity. It is important for the people who depend on us to have a robust and mature debate in seeking a solutions-based approach to this issue. We should not contribute to public misery by criticising all attempts to address the problem and by pandering to vested interests. There will be many who will not welcome the solutions proposed in the Keane report. We must stay focused. At the heart of this problem are thousands of families under enormous pressure. The modus operandi of Government in seeking to resolve these difficulties must have these people at its centre, not those on the periphery and certainly not those who would seek to be messenger boys and girls in this House.

The publication of the Keane report is a measure of the Government's ability and commitment to tackle the mortgage and debt crisis. It is a crisis which sees some 45,000 households in arrears of more than 90 days, including 32,000 in arrears of more than 180 days. In addition, a further 56,000 households have restructured loans, equating to approximately 70,000 mortgage accounts. We must consider the Keane report against the backdrop of the key and guiding principles which underpin it. The first principle is that people in distressed situations who are making honest attempts to meet their financial obligations will not be put out of their home. That was a key principle of the Labour Party leading up to the general election, it is a key principle of the programme for Government and a key recommendation and outcome of the publication of the Keane report.

I welcome the proposals being put forward by Fianna Fáil on this issue. I am favourably disposed to solutions-based approaches but I am taken aback by the speed with which that party has rushed to the aid of distressed mortgage holders. Heretofore, the only solutions available to borrowers and lending institutions were forbearance or foreclosure. The Keane report offers several possible solutions, including mortgage-to-rent schemes, trade-down mortgages, split mortgages and sale by agreement.

One of the key recommendations is the early introduction of new judicial and non-judicial bankruptcy options. The true extent of Fianna Fáil's concern for home owners was highlighted in the autumn of 2009 when the Labour Party brought forward a Private Members' motion in which we indicated that a mortgage crisis was fast approaching and called for a structure to deal with stressed mortgages. Since then the number of people falling behind by 180 days in their mortgage payments has doubled. On that evening, Fianna Fáil, then in Government, talked down the extent of the problem. The stock Government response was to wait to see what happened.

Further highlighting the extent of Fianna Fáil's concern is the fact that two reports commissioned by the former Government into the problem were never acted upon. The Cooney report was published on the day the Dáil went into recess in the summer of 2010 and it was not debated in this House. Nor were its final recommendations, which were published in November last year. It is wildly disingenuous of Fianna Fáil Members to talk about the urgency of holding a debate on this issue when, on two specific occasions, that party refused to facilitate debate in this House.

There is a growing agenda within certain circles which promotes blanket debt forgiveness. It is in the interest of those promoting it to undermine the key recommendations and the robustness of the Keane report. The Government, in line with the report, is crystal clear on where it stands in regard to blanket debt forgiveness, namely, that it will not happen. Banks are already dealing with arrears on a case by case basis. That may be unpalatable but it is absolutely necessary.

My colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, has invited the various stakeholders in the mortgage and personal debt debate to a forum to be held in November. Their views and recommendations on the Keane report on mortgage arrears are welcome and will form part of the solutions that will deal with the complex problems of mortgage and personal debt.

It is incumbent on each of us in this Chamber and in the Seanad to put forward positive, solution-based approaches and not come in here and pander to an elitist circle who have no interest in seeing the recommendations of this report materialised. This report is for people with mortgage arrears, not for vested interests.

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