Govt handling of crisis 'disastrous’ - Smith

Cavan-Monaghan TD Brendan Smith has said the recent statistics on mortgage arrears provide clear evidence that the government’s approach to dealing with the crisis is simply not working.
The Fianna Fail man thinks that the 'sustainable solutions’ being offered by banks are dictated by what is in the banks’ interests, rather than the mortgage holder.
“The mortgage arrears crisis continues to worsen with the publication of each quarter’s figures. Despite government claims, there is in fact no slow-down in the rate of deterioration of the situation. We have now passed the point at which many commentators predicted the rate would peak with no sign that the situation will improve in the short term,” he said.
“The Mortgage Arrears Resolution Targets programme was launched amid much fanfare in March but the fact that we have only had 344 split mortgages implemented out of almost 100,000 mortgage arrears cases is further evidence that the banks’ thinking hasn’t really changed at all. Their sole motivation appears to be preservation of their capital base and to put off dealing with the problem for as long as possible. They have been aided in this by the government allowing them to pass off sticking plaster arrangements as sustainable solutions... it is completely unacceptable that we have yet to see an update from the Central Bank on meeting those obligations or definitive targets for conclusion of restructuring arrangements,” he said.
The Fianna Fail stalwart said “urgent” change was needed on the “disastrous” issue and called for an independent body step in.
“I firmly believe the need for an independent mortgage resolution office is compelling. As part of the new Insolvency Service, an independent mortgage resolution office would have the power to impose a binding solution to a mortgage in arrears,” said Smith.