Brendan Burgess
Founder
- Messages
- 52,181
[FONT="]1. [/FONT][FONT="]To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]“recognises that the Government inherited a severe banking, fiscal and economic environment this time last year caused by the economic and financial policies of previous Governments;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]acknowledges that, during its first year in office, the Government has taken a number of significant steps to stabilise the banking and wider fiscal and economic situation;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]r[/FONT][FONT="]e[/FONT][FONT="]cognises that the Government is aware of the increasing financial stress that some households are facing arising from difficulty in meeting their mortgage commitments;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]acknowledges that, in response to this situation, the Economic Management Council established the Inter-Departmental Mortgage Arrears Working Group and that the Group subsequently produced its report in September 2011;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]notes that:[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— the Working Group’s report indicated that the mortgage arrears problem is complex and that a range of measures such as personal insolvency reform, mortgage to rent, the provision of independent mortgage advice, direct engagement by banks and the development of sustainable options by banks for their customers who are experiencing mortgage difficulty will need to be advanced to address the problem; and[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— the Government has put in place a cross-Government high level group of officials to implement these recommendations;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]notes and welcomes the fact that this implementation process on mortgage arrears will now be overseen and driven by a Cabinet committee, chaired by the Taoiseach;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]encourages the Government to press ahead with this mortgage arrears implementation process to best support the mortgage holders, who cannot pay the mortgage on their home, in the most appropriate way having regard to the best interests of the taxpayer and society at large;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]notes that:[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— neither the Central Bank nor the Department of Finance has a statutory function in relation to interest rate decisions made by individual lending institutions at any particular time; and[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— Permanent TSB did pass on, in full, the European Central Bank rate reductions in late[/FONT]
[FONT="]2011 to customers holding standard variable rate (SVR) mortgages and reduced[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT] [FONT="]f[/FONT][FONT="]urther their loan-to-value standard variable rates to align them with the SVR;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]acknowledges that the pricing of financial products, including standard variable mortgage interest rates, is a commercial decision for the management team and Board of each bank, having due regard to their customers and the impact on profitability, particularly where the cost of funding to each bank, including deposit pricing, is under pressure;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]notes that the Central Bank has not requested the power to have regulatory control over the setting of retail interest rates and rather proposes that, within its existing powers and through the use of suasion, it will engage with specific lenders which appear to have standard variable rates set disproportionate to their cost of funds;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]r[/FONT][FONT="]e[/FONT][FONT="]cognises that the Government has taken significant actions to ensure that credit is available to viable Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) including the imposition of lending targets on the pillar banks which are more onerous than those imposed by the previous Government;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]notes that:[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— the pillar banks have met their lending targets for 2011;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— the Credit Review Office is available to ensure that viable businesses who are refused credit or offered it under overly onerous terms have a means of challenging the banks’ decisions;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— the Government increased the threshold for reviews to the Credit Review Office to[/FONT]
[FONT="]€500,000 to permit more decisions to be reviewed;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— the public interest would not be served by granting credit to non-viable businesses;[/FONT]
[FONT="]and[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— the Government has committed to the introduction of a temporary partial credit guarantee scheme and to the introduction of a Micro Finance Fund; and[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]calls on the Government to continue to ensure that policies implemented in relation to the SME sector provide that viable businesses can continue to access credit as appropriate.” — An tAire Airgeadais.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]“recognises that the Government inherited a severe banking, fiscal and economic environment this time last year caused by the economic and financial policies of previous Governments;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]acknowledges that, during its first year in office, the Government has taken a number of significant steps to stabilise the banking and wider fiscal and economic situation;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]r[/FONT][FONT="]e[/FONT][FONT="]cognises that the Government is aware of the increasing financial stress that some households are facing arising from difficulty in meeting their mortgage commitments;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]acknowledges that, in response to this situation, the Economic Management Council established the Inter-Departmental Mortgage Arrears Working Group and that the Group subsequently produced its report in September 2011;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]notes that:[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— the Working Group’s report indicated that the mortgage arrears problem is complex and that a range of measures such as personal insolvency reform, mortgage to rent, the provision of independent mortgage advice, direct engagement by banks and the development of sustainable options by banks for their customers who are experiencing mortgage difficulty will need to be advanced to address the problem; and[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— the Government has put in place a cross-Government high level group of officials to implement these recommendations;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]notes and welcomes the fact that this implementation process on mortgage arrears will now be overseen and driven by a Cabinet committee, chaired by the Taoiseach;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]encourages the Government to press ahead with this mortgage arrears implementation process to best support the mortgage holders, who cannot pay the mortgage on their home, in the most appropriate way having regard to the best interests of the taxpayer and society at large;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]notes that:[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— neither the Central Bank nor the Department of Finance has a statutory function in relation to interest rate decisions made by individual lending institutions at any particular time; and[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— Permanent TSB did pass on, in full, the European Central Bank rate reductions in late[/FONT]
[FONT="]2011 to customers holding standard variable rate (SVR) mortgages and reduced[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT] [FONT="]f[/FONT][FONT="]urther their loan-to-value standard variable rates to align them with the SVR;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]acknowledges that the pricing of financial products, including standard variable mortgage interest rates, is a commercial decision for the management team and Board of each bank, having due regard to their customers and the impact on profitability, particularly where the cost of funding to each bank, including deposit pricing, is under pressure;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]notes that the Central Bank has not requested the power to have regulatory control over the setting of retail interest rates and rather proposes that, within its existing powers and through the use of suasion, it will engage with specific lenders which appear to have standard variable rates set disproportionate to their cost of funds;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]r[/FONT][FONT="]e[/FONT][FONT="]cognises that the Government has taken significant actions to ensure that credit is available to viable Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) including the imposition of lending targets on the pillar banks which are more onerous than those imposed by the previous Government;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]notes that:[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— the pillar banks have met their lending targets for 2011;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— the Credit Review Office is available to ensure that viable businesses who are refused credit or offered it under overly onerous terms have a means of challenging the banks’ decisions;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— the Government increased the threshold for reviews to the Credit Review Office to[/FONT]
[FONT="]€500,000 to permit more decisions to be reviewed;[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— the public interest would not be served by granting credit to non-viable businesses;[/FONT]
[FONT="]and[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]— the Government has committed to the introduction of a temporary partial credit guarantee scheme and to the introduction of a Micro Finance Fund; and[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]calls on the Government to continue to ensure that policies implemented in relation to the SME sector provide that viable businesses can continue to access credit as appropriate.” — An tAire Airgeadais.[/FONT]