"Repossession, Repossession, Repossession"

No - it's business. Mortgage-lenders are not charitable organisations in it for the pleasure of providing people (families or others) with 'homes'; they are selling a service. It is irresponsible to engage in this market if you can't afford it. That's the bottom line.

The woman I referred to who years after their breakup was traced by her ex-partners mortgage company for an outstanding debt (because her name had been on the original joint mortgage application) was a patient referred to me after a suicide attempt. In my view she was not lying to me as in the context of our professional relationship such a lie would be inappropriate and unhelpful to her. Neither I my friend or family have ever had direct experience of being pursued by debt-collection agencies but I understand from investigative journalism, t.v. documentaries and the accounts of people I come into contact with in the course of my work that repossession/eviction is a reality.

In fact - going back to the 'this is not compassionate' point........one of my psychiatric nurse colleagues bought her lovely house at a knock-down price after it was repossessed and auctioned.

My comments were in response to the attitude that financial commitment of this magnitude was not a serious undertaking with potentially serious repercussions.

Marie said:

It is irresponsible to engage in this market if you can't afford it. That's the bottom line.

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Sure. Tell that to someone in Donegal who has just been made redundant after 5/10/15/20 years service to their local factory. What they could afford 10 years ago was vastly different to what they can afford now.

I am fairly confident that both myself and my partner are in secure employment and will remain so for far into the future, but there are no guarantees in this life. Was it irresponsible of us to buy a place of our own with a mortgage?

I'm not suggesting that lenders have no right to enforce their right to reposses. But anecdotal evidence suggests that it rarely happens in Ireland.

Also, from working in financial services, I know first hand that lenders are loathe to engage in repossessions (of assets of any kind) as they are costly and troublesome exercises.

That might lead to a very interesting economic configuration in the RoI then, given the current American-style culture of short-term employment contracts. How - in your view - will the defaulted millions be recouped? Statistics from ESRI, Daft.ie and other sources and commentators is that (a) mortgage lending combined with personal debt is at a level to be of concern and (b) pressure on rental accommodation appears to come principally from immigration (the statistic is that 1 in 27 renters is a non-national) on presumably modest or basic-wage income.

It would be reassuring to know there was some contingency plan for a 'repossession' eventuality because it is an immensely distressing situation however few or many people are involved. In the end it probably ultimately depends on how big Merkel's majority is in the German election.