Firms tilt for arrears tender

The Department of Finance is to spark a scramble among the country’s top PR firms for the prestigious contract to design and implement a national communications strategy on the Government’s plan to address mortgage arrears.

In May, the Government introduced measures to deal with the mortgage arrears crisis that included an effective withdrawal of the veto wielded by the banks over any personal insolvency arrangements.

Figures show 104,693, or 13.8% of mortgage accounts for principal dwelling homes, were in arrears at the end of March.