Donohoe defends John Moran house repossession claims

A Fine Gael TD has defended the Department of Finance's Secretary General John Moran, who is being criticised by the Labour Minister Joan Burton over comments he made about house repossessions.

On Thursday, Mr Moran told the Public Accounts Committee that there is an "unnaturally low level of repossessions" of houses in Ireland - adding that the repossession rate here was 0.25% compared with 3% in the UK.

The comments sparked a division within government with the Social Protection Minister Joan Burton insisting a wave of repossessions "will not be allowed to happen" - while Fine Gael's Junior Finance Minister Brian Hayes praised Mr Moran for "simply telling the truth."

Fine Gael backbench TD Paschal Donohe is also defending Mr Moran but is adamant that repossessions will only occur in cases where a genuine effort is not made by the homeowner to repay their mortgage.

"I do accept at the very, very end of a chain of events, a very small number of people will face this. The government is going to be bringing into action in a few months time now, the personal insolvency legislation, which will deal with people who can't pay and face the threat of insolvency.

"It's written into that legislation that if people one of three kind of debt arrangements, they will be able to keep their home."