Kenny and Martin accuse each other of ‘patronising claptrap’

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has criticised the way some banks are dealing with people facing repossession of their houses amid heated Dáil exchanges.

He revealed on Tuesday the banks would be called in shortly by a Cabinet sub-committee, “to discuss the nature of the arrangements they make with people’’.

The Taoiseach said he was “not happy with the situation where some banks appear to ignore the recommendations made by personal insolvency practitioners in the interests of cutting a deal and coming to a sustainable conclusion’’.

There were furious exchanges between Mr Kenny and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who said 400 homes had been listed for repossession from January 1st. It looked, he added, that "2015 is going to be the year of repossession, given the scale and volume of repossession cases coming before our courts''.

The Fianna Fáil leader claimed Mr Kenny had ignored any suggestions coming from his party to protect families and had given the banks free reign.

Mr Martin said he did not know what land Mr Kenny was living in. "Your whole mindset is through the prism of what the banks are telling you,'' he added.

He urged Mr Kenny to stop the “patronising claptrap’’ he was going on with, suggesting somehow the borrowers were at fault.

Mr Kenny said he lived in the same country as Mr Martin, “a country you destroyed economically…’’ The Taoiseach said it was beyond him that Mr Martin came into the Dáil, “week-after-week with your patronising claptrap, when you sold this down country the swannee and took no responsibility for it’’.

Mr Kenny said Mr Martin was wrong when he said he was blaming the borrower. “In many cases there has been no engagement at all,’’ he added.

He said the reason the Government called in the personal insolvency practitioners was to get first-hand evidence of where the banks were failing to cut deals after the personal insolvency practitioner had put forward a sustainable solution.

“And I am not happy about that,’’ he added.

The Government, he said, hoped, following its engagement with the banks, there would be a far more realistic appraisal of the situation.