Dublin South West TD Seán Crowe has described new mortgage figures from the Department of Finance as ‘frightening’. The latest figures show that 82% of struggling homeowners who are in arrears of over 90 days are still not in any viable agreement with their lending institution.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“These latest Department of Finance figures show that even at this late stage, there is still a need for an independent structure to step in and make reasonable deals that both the banks and their struggling customers can live with.

“These figures clearly show that banking institutions, bailed out by taxpayers, are not being realistic about providing long term sustainable solutions.

“The agonizingly slow pace dictated by the banks has resulted in them trying to squeeze blood from a stone and from a government unwilling, for whatever reason, to stand up to them.

“It is almost a year since the Central Bank announced a set of targets for the banks to reach.

“Their immediate response involved the ramping up and issuing of threatening legal letters to borrowers.

“Although there is a glimmer of good news suggesting a reduction of numbers in arrears, six years on from an Irish banking crisis, a 1% reduction each month for those not in a viable agreement is unacceptable and far too slow.

“Surely these frightening figures, highlighting a whopping 82% of those with mortgages in arrears of over 90 days, who are not in a permanent restructuring agreement, indicates that the banks are dealing with the mortgage crisis on their own terms.

“The scandal is that the government is letting them.

“In my opinion Irish taxpayers have little or no stomach for an economic policy that allows the banks to drag out this crisis until the next decade or further.

“The government has talked tough but the banks have called their bluff and struggling homeowners are continuing to suffer as a result.”