Green Party motion on home repossessions

 “That Dáil Éireann:

notes that:
— the latest figures from the Central Bank of Ireland show over 79,562 private home mortgages as being in arrears, of these, 34,551 are in arrears of over 720 days;
— the latest Central Bank of Ireland figures show that legal proceedings to enforce the debt/security on a private home mortgage were issued in 4,278 cases up to end of September 2016 and several thousand more are presently before the courts;
— in the High Court case AIB v Counihan (2014), Mr. Justice Barrett ruled on 21st December, 2016, that Council Directive 93/13/EEC applies to the situation of private home mortgages and so European Union (EU) standards of consumer protection apply to all private home mortgages;
— buyers of mortgages for private homes/personal consumption are considered consumers under EU law and so are entitled to protection under the European Communities (Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts) Regulations, (SI 27/1995) which implements Council Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair terms in consumer contracts; and
— judges or county registrars dealing with such cases must carry out an ‘own motion assessment’ which requires judges and registrars to make a proportionality and fairness assessment of compliance with EU law on a case-by-case basis;

acknowledges:
— the implications of European Court of Justice case Aziz (2013) which requires the fairness of contracts to be assessed on a case-by-case basis in relation to private mortgages and home repossessions;
— the implications of the European Court of Justice case Kušionová (2014) which requires unfair contracts in cases of home repossession to be assessed in light of the fundamental protection afforded to the ‘home’ under the European Charter of Fundamental Rights;
— that the present judicial system does not currently have the resources required to adjudicate in these cases;
— that county registrars and judges will require resources in order to implement EU law and ensure correct analysis of consumer protections when conducting ‘own motion assessments’; and
— that the State is likely to be liable if any repossessions occur without proper implementation of EU law which requires ‘own motion assessment’ in these cases;

and calls for:
— a moratorium on all home repossession cases currently going through the judicial system;
— the immediate allocation of resources to ensure county registrars, judges and other research staff can fulfil their obligations under EU law; and
— an amendment to legislation to prevent homelessness occurring due to tenants in buy-to-let mortgages, as 20 per cent of all buy-to-let mortgages are in arrears, with 10 per cent of such mortgages (14,518) 720 days in arrears.”

— Eamon Ryan, Catherine Martin
[18 January, 2017]