Sinn Féin finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty has hit out at their failure to deal with the problem of mortgage arrears, insisting that their inaction was hurting families.
Deputy Doherty was reacting to last week’s revelation by the Central Bank that 107,708 mortgages are now in distress.
He then called for an end to “complacency” and for “substantive” measures to be implemented to assist those struggling to meet repayments.
The Donegal-based TD said: “The Central Bank has revealed that 107,708 mortgage holders were in serious distress at the end of 2011. A staggering 92 families fell into mortgage distress every day in the three months from September to December 2011.
"Unfortunately this increase is utterly unsurprising given the fact that the Government have done nothing to assist those in mortgage distress since taking office.
"It took Fine Gael and Labour eight months to produce the Keane Report on the mortgage crisis. Another four months have passed and according to media reports only one family has received any assistance from government in the form of a pilot mortgage to rent scheme."
