Banks seek to repossess 849 Dublin homes in 2015 alone – Ardagh

Fianna Fáil Press Office
Cllr Catherine Ardagh
Dublin South-Central

16 November 2015

Banks seek to repossess 849 Dublin homes in 2015 alone – Ardagh

Fianna Fáil candidate for Dublin South-Central Cllr Catherine Ardagh has accused the Government of washing its hands of families at risk of home repossession in Dublin.

Cllr Ardagh made the comments after it was revealed that there has been a surge in the number of homes in the country that the banks are attempting to repossess.

“The recently published mortgage repossession figures are another indication that the Government is ignoring the escalating home repossession crisis. So far in 2015 there have been a shocking 849 repossession orders lodged in Dublin.

“Nationally there have been 4,440 repossession orders lodged in the courts. In the period July to September this year 188 Homes were repossessed. This is nearly double the number of homes repossessed on the same period in 2013. Meanwhile the Government has sat by without taking any meaningful action to help distressed mortgage holders,” added Cllr Ardagh.

“More than 15% of mortgage accounts for family homes in Ireland are now in arrears, which is more than three times higher than the figure at the end of December 2010. The country is potentially facing 25,000 home repossessions next year alone,” she warned.

“The Government introduced the Mortgage-to-Rent scheme with the view to keeping people in their homes. However this scheme has been a total failure. Only 27 people in Dublin were actually successful in getting on to the scheme despite 660 people applying for it. The Government has designed the scheme as a bureaucratic nightmare to discourage people from applying.

“In March, Fianna Fáil put forward legislation which would have removed the banks’ veto on restructuring arrangements involving a mortgage on a family home. Unfortunately, the government rejected this solution wholesale and has refused to take action to forestall the wave of repossessions that are taking place in 2015.”

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