Escalating repossession rate must stop

​Local Fianna Fáil TD Darragh O’Brien has attacked the stream of continuing home seizures and dispossessions coming before the courts and says his party remains committed to finding a solution for distressed homeowners who are facing repossession.
 
Speaking at a local Fianna Fáil Fingal Comhairle Dáil Ceantair meeting in the Carnegie Court Hotel, Swords last evening, Deputy O’Brien raised the alarming number of home seizures and repossessions which have occurred as of late.
 
“More than 2,000 homes seizures cases are listed in the courts before Christmas and here in Dublin city and county more than 300 cases will come before the County Registrar or Judge in this month alone. There are families throughout our community that are fearful of losing their home, and the last Government failed to fight the corner of these homeowners.
 
“At present the Fianna Fáil Bill to tackle excessive variable interest mortgage rates is at the Finance Committee stage in the Dáil,” he told the meeting.
 
“There is no justification for penal mortgage rates of 4.5% imposed by our own Irish banks, when the cost of money internationally has never been lower.
 
“But far worse than that, are the daily pictures of Irish banks seeking to evict thousands of Irish citizens from their homes through the Irish courts. This has not happened in such a co-ordinated and wholesale manner since the Famine.
 
“These are the banks that ordinary citizens bailed out and rescued from the edge of extinction, with their hard-earned taxed euros. To make matters worse, the banks know full well that the entire burden of re-housing dispossessed citizens will have to be borne by the state, along with all the living and welfare support that such families must be afforded.
 
“Home seizures and dispossessions must stop now and I call on the Government to intervene immediately, to put a stop to this heartless and cruel trade being practiced on our most vulnerable citizens.
 
It is no longer acceptable to sit back and allow this situation become a crisis. We saw that happen with homelessness and housing emergency, which has been exacerbated by rising mortgage arrears.
 
“This is an issue that we have been raising for some time and will continue to pursue a plan to help people at risk of repossession,” concluded Deputy O’Brien.