The Communications Minister says banks are not interested in repossessing houses from customers who are in arrears with their mortgages. Pat Rabbitte was responding to comments from the SIPTU General-President Jack O'Connor.

He has described renewed talk of evictions as 'reprehensible and barbaric'.

But Minister Rabbitte says there has been no increase in the number of evictions and that we should wait to see the results of the Personal Insolvency Bill.

Yesterday the Secretary-General of the Department of Finance John Moran told an Oireachtas committee that he expects to see more repossessions this year.

Increase in arrears 

He was speaking after the Central Bank released figures showing nearly 12% of residential mortgages are now in arrears. Central Bank data showed that 1,000 homeowners a month are falling into arrears with their mortgages. But the rate of increase in arrears is beginning to slow.

The Central Bank said just over 94,000 mortgages held by owner-occupiers were in arrears at the end of December. That is up by over 3,000 from last September.

Pat Rabbitte spoke to Midlands Radio in Tullamore.