There has to be a distinction between debt reduction on the primary family home and investment properties. If buy2let mortgages are to be discounted then anyone who has taken a hit on shares on the ISEQ over the past few years should demand a rebate. Just kidding but the central point is valid. If the government had started out with a NAMA for the homeowner rather than the commercial developer, much more latitude in reducing wages and welfare would arguably ad been possible.

I have no objections provided that nobody profits from any debt forgiveness. If a mortgage is reduced, the state should be entitled to a percentage of any future profits made from the sale of the property.

what percentage of my rent is the taxpayer willing to pay to reward me for not taking out a mortgage I’d have difficulties repaying?

Seems pretty straightforward, kind of like a hire-purchase scheme. If the state pays half your mortgage, then they own half your house. When it comes to sale or inheritance the state gets half the property value, or the accumulate cost of support with interest, which ever is greater. This system was operated successfully during the Thatcher-era in the UK.

I would favour debt restructuring over debt forgiveness, I think a serious restructuring of loans could help. Extend the life of the mortages, offer a one time very competitive fixed rate and when implementing all this, reset mortgages so homeowners are not so impossibly in arrears.

Sandra, U grew up in a bubble. Anyone who lived through the 80′s could tell u this. The Irish have been a mess for as long as anyone knows. We had an opportunity to build a fairer inclusive society but we decided to have a party instead. Bertie should be kicked up and down the streets of Ireland, assets seized and shipped to Afganistan on one of those planes that conveniently stop in Shannon.

Give people longer to pay if need be, but people should know what they are doing when borrowing money. It’s a matter of personal responsibility.

You make your bed and you lie in it. It’s sad to see people genuinely in trouble, however there are certain people who are still attempting to live the high life and haven’t learnt their lessons. People like this shouldn’t be helped if their not prepared to help themselves. The issue then is how do you differentiate between them and the people who are genuinely trying to curb their living expenses but are still in debt. Too many free rides given in this country as it is, it’s what got us into this mess in the first place. People acting a certain way and not getting punished for it.

No, its not fair on people who are not struggling with a mortgage, why should they continue paying while these other people get relief. All these people voluntarily took out these mortgages, nobody forced them to do so. But I’m sure this will be introduced and the people who were cautious will still be burdened with mortgages while those who were greedy when looking for a big mortgage when they couldn’t afford it will get forgiven.

If the Irish govt had 6 billion to spare (it doesn’t), should it spend it on health, education, or on a middle class mortgage bailout?

No! No more write offs, people on low wages taking 100-110% mortgage!!! I agree with an earlier comment will the government pay my rent? I never took a mortgage. If u wanted one u pay it back! I’m single no children no mortgage I get nothing, we should be rewarded for not costing the State money

If you write thus type of debt off, you are effectively letting bad decisions go unpunished. There has to be a middle ground.

I have very little sympathy for the people who went out and got themselves a variable rate mortgage, then pretended they didn’t know it was going to vary, and now expect you and I to pick up the tab for their mistake.

In case people hadn’t noticed, we’ve been bailing out the banks bad decisions for a while now. So can ye leave off the morality tales ? Put simply, if people’s salaries are cut – as appears required to increase competitiveness, generate taxes and save the country – allegedly – their capacity to repay any payment is diminished. So a mortgage payment takes up a far larger portion of the monthly income ( if they are still employed, many aren’t – so lectures to those people “for having overborrowed” might be nuanced to reflect that unhappy circumstance – most likely not their fault), and leaves less for anything else, from utilities, through to food, onto to discretionary spending, and investment. You might find, listening to commentators, that the lack of the last two is not conducive to recovery, and will prolong the recession for everyone in the country.

So while I’m all for making sure no-one who had the misfortune to come of age to buy a house in the last ten years would get any sparing of the lash from the political class who told them not to do so was almost as bad as committing suicide, the economic imperative of getting things going again really has to trump things. Extension of periods, equity swaps, transferability of mortgages all have to be looked at. But in the end, on the European stage, big writedowns will eventually take place. It seems strange that this can only apply to professional investors. Anyway, we can rest assured our European masters will make the decision for us. ( And it’s funny how they forget that without major debt ( and huge moral)forgiveness by the Allies and Americans 50 years ago after a much greater sin than the “profiligacy” the Germans wish to tar the periphery with, Germany might never have recovered to lecture any of us. )

Ah feck it, I think the state should just increase taxes, and pay off everyone’s mortgage…and anyone that doesn’t have a mortgage? Just buy them a house! Fair’s fair!

No, why should I pay for someone else to have a free ride, I’ll still have to pay my mortgage. If you made a bad decision live with the consequences.

Anybody in their right mind would stay away from any kind of debt forgiveness schemes – government run or otherwise. Bottom line is "debt forgiveness" is a fluffy name for bankruptcy. This is a true prison sentence. You will never again get a credit card, car loan, fridge on the never never from currys etc ( without great difficulty ). Even if you go to the UK or Europe and lie on application forms they may catch you easy.

What ever the solution it must be available to every mortgage holder otherwise it will never be fair. So my vote goes to extending the life of the loan – for some people this will mean their children paying their mortgage or their life assurance kicking in. isn’t that fairer than doing nothing and at the same time us Irish looking out for our brothers and sisters that are in difficulty.

It’s the laws governing mortgages that need to be changed rather than just bailing out people or banks. It needs to be the same as it is in the u.s.a. where if your house gets repossessed or you give back the keys the banks can’t come after you looking for â

If this happens on a large scale it would be the last straw for me. It would be completely unfair to those who did not take the cheap credit being pushed at them by the banks. If people lied to themselves and the banks about their ability to repay then they are fools not victims.

Apologists for this debt forgiveness idea often cite the catastrophic decision to socialize bank debts – the sums involved there are far bigger than the cost of such a scheme, they say. The bankers got off scott free, we want a NAMA for the little people, etc. That has no bearing whatever on the rottenness of this idea.

I think most of those people who are likely to benefit from this are at risk of losing their house are not there because of a ‘bad investment decision’ but because having lost their jobs, they now risk losing their homes too. Those of us who will not benefit from this are not cannier investors. We’ve simply had the luck not to lose our jobs. How is it going to benefit anyone to make people – including children – homeless?

NAMA can sell property at a loss, which it has been, on the grounds of the ‘best deal’ available. Any shortfall is made up by the taxpayer. The recent 1.1 billion loss, ignoring previous losses, simply proves the point that NAMA was and is a bad idea. On the other hand home owners have no recourse to the taxpayer when things keel over. How many struggling homeowners can decamp to other jurisdictions leaving hundreds of millions and indeed billions on the balance sheet of the Irish taxpayer?

Why were all of our posts removed?

I think it should only apply to those who are in real danger of loosing their homes. We all have paid far to much already without having to pay for debt forgiveness on everyone’s mortgages.

Only for( genuine) people/familys who are going to lose their ordinary house.The state pays for rent allowance so put that towards a house which is going to be repossessed.The state (us) have paid for the bank wright downs already…
People will never agree on this its gonna be the case of whats the best for the individuals. But this problem is gonna get to big and Irish people must stick together.The Banks,bondholders and developers have been bailed now what about the average Joe

If they are looking at debt forgiveness for homeowners they should be looking at it for countries as well. Because they are not going to be able to pay back the billions borrowed anymore than the homeowners their thousands.

Does it mean that people get their whole mortgage written off and then have their house for nothing???? If so not really fair on others.

People unfortunately will have real anger over 5bn bailout for members of the general public, but less so with a 90bn bailout for the richest and most crooked in Ireland.

If their is not significant debt write offs in this country and indeed across the western world. You can kiss the Euro and any prospect of growth good bye..

This proposal is distasteful but there is a clear logic and benefit to the economy in it. If all the money pumped in to banks had been applied across all debt from Irish banks, most residential mortgages would have been cleared. That however would not have been much good to the likes of Sean Quinn, Derek Quinlivan etc.

Some of these comments actually made me feel ashamed to be Irish. I grew up in a different Ireland. I remember a place where people were a whole lot more tolerant….nice even (and I grew up in the 90′s so it’s not long ago). When things are tough, even having the support and encouragement of others can be a blessing. Seeing these comments would bring anybody to tears. What happened to Irish people?

Tax payers should not bail anyone out unless they have been unfortunate to lose their jobs. a lot of people got over their heads in debt , that’s their lookout. If one gets into debt tough luck i say pay back or lose out.I have no sympathy with the keep up with the Jones brigade.

If we can bail out the banks, developers and bond holders the least we can do is help out those who provided the cash to bail these guys out to begin with.

Should only be for anyone who bought a house between 2003 and 2008

It should start from mortgages drawndown since 2000, knock 20 grand of for every 100 grand owed and for those in severe trouble allow extra 5 years without interest increase within that 5 years. And for those who lied about there income and just wanted a massive home as a trophy home…. Fuck them

Im with Dirt Lancaster on this. We need more right wing opinion makers and shakers like him

I think we should blame the Muslims and Foreigners, MIgrants and Asylum Seekers (in not sure of the difference) including the Northern Irish. And The Poor. And Single Mothers. And the Lazy – thought not the lazy thinking just a certain type of Lazy should be punished. The fact is we ALL partied and we should respect authority more. We need a storng Catholic country and we should pay off all the gambles of unelected backers.

Normal sevice is resumed

Face the fact. The banks have to do this. They know that people cant afford to pay back and they know that they cant evict people either because that shit will blow up in their face quicker that you can say “Of course Bertie wan it on a horse”. This is simply all an attempt to reframe a narrative and continue the cycle of laying the balme of financial corruption, and the internal failings of financialised capitalism as a way of organising a society

Should be done on an individual basis with a moratorium put in place for two years to get ahead of the mess so no-one has to lose their home in the meantime. The government and the media have to be held a little complicit too given how they drove the dream, and in my opinion you can’t blame people for buying into it. That was a little naive and stupid of certain people, but we have to remember we are human beings. If it’s not thought through properly it may divide a greater wedge into our already very divided society. All speculators should be ruled out automatically. Obvious problems are an abuse of any forgiveness, the punishment of non-material people for other people’s greed but it could be the coup that secures FG/LAB power for the next decade. Unfortunately this is off the back of insurmountable problems on the world stage and unless they act like leaders then no economy will be going anywhere, anytime soon.

Unpaid debt should be added onto principal- Waive principal payments or part thereof but no forgiveness.
Too many are holding our for a deal that cuts their principal-
The screwey mortgages should be refinanced with more just terms. But not forgiveness- sounds outrageous as teh billed will be passed onto to rest of us- that may jeopardise the most deserving those who properly managed their financial affairs

Five years extra to pay , just to clarify