A woman said she “panicked” and hid a bank’s repossession letter from her husband, as experts warned that families in mortgage arrears they can no longer ignore the problems as this will be “the year of the repossessions”.

Figures from the Department of Finance show that the number of mortgages in arrears of more than 90 days has declined to just under 79,500.

The IMF expects Ireland to meet the agreed budget targets over the next two years and reduce the deficit to below 3% by 2015, according to mission chief Craig Beaumont.

Blocking the sale of repossessed homes will only prolong the problems for indebted borrowers and does not serve society as a whole, according to the Finance Minister Michael Noonan.

Homeowners are being warned that collection of the new Local Property Tax will be strictly enforced and that any unpaid taxes, plus late payment interest, will have to cleared before their property can be legally sold or transferred.