Tánaiste and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore told the Dáil that progress is being made in tackling the mortgage crisis and the new insolvency legislation “will enable people to put their mortgage crisis behind them and to get on with the rest of their lives”.

Strict new deadlines for banks to conclude deals with mortgage holders in arrears of more than three months will see a rise in repossessions because it will force banks to “go after the low-hanging fruit”, warned the barrister Ross Maguire from the advocacy group, New Beginning.

The EU-wide stress tests scheduled for March 2014 could be rolled out indefinitely to avoid lumpy recapitalisations, according to the global head of market economics at BNP Paribas, Paul Mortimer-Lee.