Call For Banks To Play Their Part In Alleviating The Mortgage Crisis

Sinn Féin Leader Gerry Adams TD has said that figures released by the Department of Finance show very clearly that the banks are not playing their part in alleviating the mortgage crisis and that the government is failing to hold them to account.

Speaking in Dublin where he attended a meeting of the party's Ard Comhairle, Gerry Adams said: "Figures from the Department of Finance show that 86% of people in arrears of over 90 days have not been put into any type of long-term arrangement with the banks.


"The banks are continuing to put the squeeze on already hard-pressed homeowners, and are failing to reach sustainable deals with families who cannot pay.

"The government on the other hand is doing nothing to defend these families or to call the banks to account.

"The number of families in mortgage distress continues to rise. The government needs to stop letting the banks set the agenda.

"They need to establish an independent public insolvency service. This body must have the power to impose solutions on banks which would deal first and foremost with protecting the family home."

(CD/JP)