FIANNA FÁIL HAS backed the concept of mortgage debt forgiveness – but only in relation to individual cases where a full assessment has been carried out.

The party was holding its pre-Dáil parliamentary party meeting, in Tallaght in Co Dublin, where members debated the question of how to help struggling families renegotiate household debt. Job creation and the economy were also discussed, RTÉ reports.

Party leader Micheál Martin also voiced for the establishment of a debt-settlement office that performed outside of a judicial capacity, according to the Irish Times.

Speaking at a Oireachtas Finance Committee earlier this month, the governor of the Central Bank announced that his staff were carrying out a review of how financial institutions are observing the current code of conduct in dealing with mortgage arrears.

Patrick Honohan said that a blanket forgiveness scheme for relief was unlikely – a sentiment also expressed by the Minister for Finance - but that banks were expected to offer some form of help to distressed mortgage-holders.

Read: Central Bank to review how banks handle ‘distressed’ mortgage holders>
Read: Negative equity should not mean debt forgiveness – Rabbitte>
Read: Michael Noonan: “No magic bullet” for mortgage debt relief>