Letter to the Editor of the Southern Star as Published on 17th July 2010
Issued : Saturday 17 July, 2010
Dear Sir,
You will, no doubt, have noted the recently published report of the Mortgage Arrears and Personal Debt Expert Group, which was set up by the Government to examine one of the most pressing problems facing the economy.
When one recalls the protracted discussions on the Renewed Programme for Government, when the establishment of this expert group was promoted as some kind of deal breaker for the Greens, the report, albeit an interim one, is a very disappointing document – long on aspiration and short on detail.
The report contains 41 recommendations, but in truth few if any of them go beyond what should be happening anyway, at a time when tens of thousands of mortgages are stressed and when hundreds of thousands of homeowners have fallen into negative equity. Most disappointingly perhaps, one of the only specific proposals is that the moratorium on repossessions should not be extended.
The Labour Party believes that if we are to address this crisis in a meaningful way we need to give serious consideration to ideas such as:
- The reform of existing supports e.g. liberalising mortgage interest relief by decreasing waiting times and increasing maximum mortgage.
- The introduction of a mortgage rescue scheme whereby the moratorium period would be extended to two years.
- Dealing in a legislative way with matters such as penalty interests on arrears and reform of bankruptcy laws.
If the recommendations are to have any impact whatsoever, they will have to be backed by legislation, but with the Dáil now in recess there can be no progress in this regard until autumn at the earliest.
It is almost two years since the financial markets went into meltdown, and while the Government has rescued builders, bankers and developers, it is clear that ordinary home owners are still at the back of the queue as far as Fianna Fáil and the Greens are concerned.
This document does nothing to resolve the imbalance of power between borrowers and lenders, particularly when it comes to dealing with arrears.
Yours etc.,
Cllr. Gearóid Buckley, T.C.
Chapel Street,
Bandon.
Cllr 
