103 repossession applications made in Mayo last week

103 repossession applications made in Mayo last week


Ciara Galvin

One hundred and three applications for the repossession of homes were made in Mayo last week. That is according to legal representation group New Beginnings, an organisation established in 2010 to represent families facing home repossession.
Chairman of New Beginnings Ross Maguire SC told The Mayo News that though the economy is in recovery, people in towns like Castlebar are still struggling.
“Castlebar is nearly worse than Dublin. People still have huge debts but are not getting the same recovery as those living and working in Dublin. It’s harder on people outside Dublin, and there’s more opportunities for work there,” said Mr Maguire.
There are over 90,000 distressed mortgages in Ireland, Maguire explained, and the families that are approaching his organisation have ‘had enough’. “People are finding it very difficult to deal with the banks, and they are afraid of losing their homes. There are very few organisations helping people,” he said.
Mr Maguire believes that over half of the 103 Mayo cases could be solved, citing three ways in which solutions could be found: negotiating with banks, personal insolvency and bankruptcy.
The demand for advice on home repossession is so strong that New Beginnings plans to open a Galway office in the coming months, as well as a sub office in Castlebar.
According to Martin Waters of the St Vincent de Paul in Castlebar, pressure on families has been increasing in the last number of weeks.
“We have a lot of families contacting us,” he said. “It seems that it’s open season for the banks repossessing homes. In the next 12 months, we expect a huge increase in the number of families contacting us. Families are scared out of their minds.”
Mr Waters said that Mayo County Council and other agencies will come under pressure to accommodate struggling families. “This is bigger than us [St Vincent de Paul]. We can only help them with light, heat, food etc. We are the plaster for their problems; we can only do so much.”
Mr Waters believes that while banks had previously been ‘holding off’ on repossessing houses, they are now coming under pressure from the Central Bank to recoup losses. This means matters would worsen for families this year, he said.
New Beginning will host a seminar on personal insolvency, bankruptcy and speaking with banks tomorrow (Wednesday) in The Meyrick Hotel, Eyre Square, Galway, at 7.30pm.