Socialist Party Cork City councillor Mick Barry this morning strongly criticised the Government’s decision to close off the legal loophole which prevents banks from seizing the homes of defaulting borrowers.
He said: “The Personal Insolvency Bill will give the banks the final say on whether a home is seized or not. This gives huge powers to the banks and hugely disempowers householders. It is a charter for repossessions on a big scale.”
The Government’s decision was revealed in the latest review of the State’s bailout programme which was published yesterday.
Cllr Barry said: “At the end of June there were 167,000 mortgage accounts in arrears according to the Central Bank. Many of these householders will feel a tingle of fear this morning as news come through of what the Fine Gael/Labour Government have just signed up to.”
Cllr Barry said that if the legal changes result in a wave of home repossessions in the New Year the idea of organised resistance to evictions might come more firmly onto the agenda and added that he would be willing to throw his weight behind a campaign of this kind.