Vico Road case doesn’t represent powerlessness of those in arrears

The news has been dominated by the possible repossession of a mansion on Vico Road but if you want to see true pain, go into a local court. Sitting through 60 repossession cases in Cork Circuit Court was nothing but tragedy.

Take one young man, weathered and worn beyond his years. He had no solicitor and was on his own. He explained to the court how he had been dealing with a divorce.

His ex-wife’s solicitor wanted to sell their home, as did the bank’s solicitor, but this young man, explained very nervously that although he had fallen into arrears for a short while, he had since been making full mortgage repayments.