Irish Property Owners Associations urges members to write to Government about treatment of borrowers by lenders

The IPOA - Irish Property Owners Association has today written to members urging them to write to their local TD and Senator. In an email from

Stephen Faughnan the Chairman of the association said " The treatment by the banks of people in debt is needlessly harsh and unfair.  The banks lent money without due diligence, stress testing and people borrowed in good faith. 

People in debt need fair treatment and Government action is not preventing lenders from taking advantage of people in vulnerable situations, and not ensuring fair treatment. 

Attached is a letter which we would like you to circulate to your national public representatives and any others you may happen to know, ideally in the post and addressed personally to your public representative (both TDs and Senators).  They are the only people who can put the necessary pressure on to reign in the banks.  Now is the perfect time with the Local and European Elections coming up on May 23, along with By-Elections in two constituencies.

We need to support members and people in trouble with the banks.   As a society, we need to stand together on this issue and support our friends, family and neighbours in financial difficulty.  The banks were bailed out by the citizens of this country, but citizens in financial difficulty are being harassed, bullied and not treated fairly.  There needs to be an independent Dispute Resolution Service to ensure fair treatment for both lenders and people in serious debt, without the power of veto given to the lenders by the Government.

Would you please personally support this campaign for fair treatment, and pass on the sample letter and details to all the people on your email address list asking them to help the campaign.  Our country will only begin to prosper when the level of lending debt is dealt with in a humane and fair way. "

If you are a member of the IPOA and have not received this communication suggest you contact them at mailto:info@ipoa.ie

In yesterday's Irish Times there was an article by Connor Pope "BOI criticised for 'very blunt' approach to distressed borrowers - Insolvency Service singles out Bank of Ireland for criticism" 

"Bank of Ireland was singled out for criticism by the head of the Insolvency Service of Ireland Lorcan O’Connor at an Oireachtas hearing yesterday for adopting a “very blunt” approach in its dealings with distressed borrowers" See all of this here