SARAH BOUGHT her one bedroom apartment in Swords for €300,000- her mortgage repayments are €1,450 a month. When her job relocated down the country, she had little choice but to move. With the apartment now valued at €170,000, she can’t sell it, and has no choice but to rent it out bringing in €750 and leaving her to add another €700 every month.
Right now in Ireland one in eight mortgages are in trouble. This represents 95,158 households which are in arrears or have already had their debt restructured. Of these mortgages in arrears 72% have been behind in payments for more than six months and of these the average amount owed is €21,000. For people owing so much, repayment looks impossible without a major transformation in personal circumstance.
Another year and another instalment in the Action Plan for Jobs from the government. After the self-proclaimed sensational success that was the 2012 action plan, with 92% of its targets being hit, unemployment still stands at over 14%. Self-congratulation is no congratulation.