Ireland

Tea and sympathy of no use to mortgage holders unable to make repayments, Mary Lou McDonald says

The government confirmed yesterday that the blanket payment breaks scheme offered to mortgage holders in financial difficulty due to Covid-19 will not be extended to new applicants beyond September 30
The government confirmed yesterday that the blanket payment breaks scheme offered to mortgage holders in financial difficulty due to Covid-19 will not be extended to new applicants beyond September 30 The government confirmed yesterday that the blanket payment breaks scheme offered to mortgage holders in financial difficulty due to Covid-19 will not be extended to new applicants beyond September 30

Tea and sympathy is of no use to the thousands of mortgage holders unable to make their repayments due to Covid-19, the Dáil has heard.

The leader of the opposition Mary Lou McDonald said it was "unacceptable" that mortgage holders' ability to access payment breaks was being left to the banks to decide on a case-by-case basis.

The government confirmed yesterday that the blanket payment breaks scheme offered to mortgage holders in financial difficulty due to Covid-19 will not be extended to new applicants beyond September 30.

Instead payment breaks will only be offered or extended on a case-by-case basis.

The Sinn Féin leader said nobody expected that the payment breaks would go on indefinitely but that they should be maintained while the pandemic continued.

"Leaving mortgage holders to go it alone and on a case-by-case basis to rely on the sympathy of banks is frankly unacceptable," Ms McDonald told the Dáil.

She added that many people would not be in a financial position to return to normal mortgage repayments.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he understood the "anxiety and stress" that many mortgage holders felt in relation to the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on their capacity to repay loans.

He said the scheme had been invaluable to thousands of people but that the majority of people had been in a position to return to normal repayments after the initial three-month payment break.

He rejected an accusation by the Sinn Féin leader that the meeting between government and the banks on Monday was a facade.

"The meeting yesterday was not a facade," he said.

"It was a genuine engagement."

He added: "The 30th of September refers to new applications for payment breaks after that deadline.

"It is a regulatory application deadline set down by the European Banking Authority. That's the key point.

"It's not the cliff-edge as has been presented."

In response Ms McDonald said: "Tea and sympathy for mortgage holders is of no use to them.

"Of course some will be in a position to return to full payment, but many others won't."

Government ministers met the chief executives of the country's retail banks and the Banking Payments Federation on Monday to discuss the payments break scheme.

More than 150,000 borrowers have taken payment breaks since they were introduced in March.

The banks agreed that customers who find themselves in difficulty at the end of their payment break would still be supported, but that this would be done on a case-by-case basis.