The Ryan Review

PERMANENT TSB produced a shock headline at the Oireachtas hearings on mortgage arrears when it claimed some of its customers hadn’t made a repayment in seven years. Pressed by Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty to produce the figures, it said it hadn’t them to hand, but would produce them. To date, it still hasn’t, the TD told me.

There was some scepticism at the remarks with even liberal commentators wondering why on earth the bank hadn’t moved against such recalcitrants.

But Central Bank stats bear out that 44pc of loans in long term arrears (+720 days), are more than five years past their due date for repayments. Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) remain a significant, and are highly unusual in an EU context, the bane of bankers’ lives and are unsustainable. And with taxpayers owning most of the banks affected, that means it’s a problem for Joe Citizen too.

Society can’t have it both ways: propping up free housing for someone who refuses to engage with their responsibilities, and giving out when banks flog off loan books of these terminal cases.

Sharon Donnery, the deputy governor of the Central Bank, highlighted its frustration at the situation. While 87pc of borrowers who have restructured loans (ie extended terms, rejigged repayments, warehoused debt), were sticking to them, showing that if both parties meet half way there can be accommodation, she added the long-term arrears (basket) cases are increasing to an alarming level. A total of 39pc had chosen not to engage with their lender at all and have no sustainable solution in place. Why, is a question for psychologists, but the What (the hell we should do about it), is a question for us all, not just the bankers and politicians, since it is other customers subventing this non-cooperation, with higher variable rates, charges and taxes. Just 2,722 repossession orders have been granted by courts on owner-occupied houses since 2009. No wonder there’s no competition to enter the mortgage market from foreign banks.