IBA: Mortgage debt a 'financial time-bomb'

The worsening situation in relation to people in trouble with mortgage repayments was a ‘financial timebomb’ which would go off unless action was taken to help hard-pressed homeowners, according to Ciaran Phelan, chief executive of the Irish Brokers Association (IBA).

The crisis was due to the fact that one-in-10 homeowners were now struggling with repayments, figures from the Central Bank showed. The level of arrears was continuing to spiral, he said.