As unemployment is on the rise, so is the number of homes being repossessed.
In the last year, over a hundred thousand people have joined the dole queues and there has been a doubling of home repossessions in the first six months of the year against the same period in 2008.
Last year, repossession cases here doubled.
At the Northside Community Law Centre, solicitor Colin Daly explains that the repossession figures have increased by 90 per cent against the same period last year. People have lost their jobs, businesses have failed resulting in many individuals being unable to pay mortgages and finally losing their homes. The work of the Northside Community Law Centre is to help people renegotiate payments with their lending institution to avoid repossession.
Since February, the government placed a 12 month moratorium on the Bank of Ireland and AIB taking proceedings against those in payment arrears for less than one year. In addition, a six-month ban was put in place for other lending institutions. However, the banks were still able to pursue people who were in arrears for longer.
The latest figures from the court service show that in the first six months of this year, there were 490 new repossession cases in the high court. Of these, 138 repossession orders were granted which is just 12 more than the figure for the same period last year. This suggests that the court service is giving homeowners some leeway to find a solution to their inability to pay.
Noeline Blackwell, Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC), acknowledges that the banks and the courts are giving people time. However, this is just postponing the problem for homeowners.
There is no sufficient protection for borrowers.
The Irish Banking Federation claims that the level of actual repossessions is low in comparison to repossession orders by international standards representing just 0.01 per cent of all mortgages issued.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 23 July 2009. The reporter is Martina Fitzgerald.
