Minister’s Brief

available is €1.8 million. Initially it had been hoped that the CCPC would manage such
a campaign but they are not in a position to do so. Consequently, it falls to the
Department of Finance to run this project and we are currently at an advanced stage
in preparing a tender competition to procure the services of a provider to deliver such
a campaign.
Mortgage Regulation
In 2015, the Central Bank introduced macro-prudential rules that impose loan-to-value
and loan-to-income limits on most mortgages. The Central Bank will review the
operation of these rules and will publish their findings by November. The Central Bank
has indicated that the general framework is intended to be a permanent feature and
that any changes will require a high evidence threshold and that the calibration of
these rules can be tightened, loosened or left unchanged. On 27 April, the Central
Bank announced that as part of its review of the mortgage lending rules, the Bank will
invite written public submissions that provide evidence-based analyses of the impact
of the rules.
The Credit Reporting Act 2013 provided for the establishment of a Central Credit
Register (CCR) by the Central Bank. The operational implementation of the CCR is a
complex process and the Central Bank intends to take a phased approach. They are
currently in discussions with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC)
about the use of PPSN numbers. Depending on the view of the DPC there will be
implications on the build and operational capacity of the register. It is intended that
the initial phase of the CCR will focus on lending to consumers and is expected to
become operational in 2016. A later phase will address lending to incorporated
entities and is projected to be operational by end-2017.
The Mortgage Credit Directive was transposed into Irish law by statutory instrument in
March 2016. This Directive aims to develop a more transparent, efficient and
competitive internal market by implementing strong protections for consumers when
seeking mortgage credit, while promoting sustainable lending.
Mortgage Arrears
As a consequence of the financial crisis, mortgage arrears increased significantly
between 2009 and 2013. However since late 2013 the trend has been downwards.
Data published by the Central Bank for end 2015 showed that the number of Principal
Dwelling Houses (PDH) mortgage accounts in arrears over 90 days was 61,931 (8.3% of
the total). Over 36,000 of these accounts have arrears of over 720 days, with a total
outstanding balance of just over €8bn, equivalent to 8 per cent of the total value of
PDH mortgage loans. Over 120,000 PDH mortgage accounts have been restructured.
On Buy-to-Lets (BTL), 23,344 mortgage accounts were in arrears of more than 90 days
at end Q4 (17% of total).
To date a cross-Departmental approach, led by the Department of the Taoiseach, has
been adopted to address the problem of mortgage arrears. The mortgage arrears
strategy has been built around the following pillars:
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