Dublin ponders action to speed up repossessions Dublin has told its international bailout masters it will consider introducing a fast track court process to speed up repossessions of buy-to-let properties in a bid to tackle its growing mortgage crisis. The commitment is contained in Ireland's updated bailout programme, which has been agreed between Dublin, the EU and International Monetary Fund. It reflects concern at the slow pace of repossessions in a country where almost one in five borrowers has trouble paying their mortgage. "Building on the expedited proceedings in the commercial court, the authorities will examine the possibility of introducing tight deadlines on plenary proceedings for non-principal private residence by the end of the October," says the programme. The failure of banks and Irish regulators to deal with the mortgage arrears problem is causing concern for Ireland's international lenders. EU and IMF officials are due to begin their last formal review of Ireland's bailout next month before the country exits its programme in December. The updated programme says the Irish government has agreed to consider assigning new functions to specialist judges appointed to deal with personal insolvency cases, which would enable them to fast track repossessions. Dublin has set up an expert group to examine the chronic delays, unpredictability and cost of repossessing properties. This group will report by the end of October to its international lenders and recommend whether to proceed with a fast track repossession process. High unemployment and lower wages, caused by a five-year economic crisis, have pushed many mortgage holders to the brink. Despite recent increases in house prices in Dublin, the value of residential property on a national basis has halved since the peak of Ireland's property bubble in mid-2007. This has left hundreds of thousands of borrowers stuck in negative equity and unable to simply sell their homes to escape debts. Last month, Ireland's central bank said one in eight private residential mortgages was in arrears of more than 90 days at the end of June, while one in five buy-to-let mortgages held by landlords (30,326 accounts) was not performing. A further 100,000 mortgage accounts in trouble have already been restructured by banks to help customers continue with their payments. This has left hundreds of thousands of borrowers stuck in negative equity This week, Ireland's central bank voiced its frustration at the slow pace of loan restructuring by the country's main lenders. "Despite all of our efforts, and despite real progress in policies, processes and staffing, far too many arrears cases have still remained untreated," Patrick Honohan, central bank governor, told Irish parliamentarians. "There has been a degree of wishful thinking, a belief that many cases will cure themselves even without energetic action by the lenders," he said. Banks say legal delays and the high cost of proceedings is frustrating their efforts to tackle the problem. A loophole in Irish law has made it extremely difficult for banks to repossess properties when customers have fallen into arrears. For example, banks held just 1,001 residential properties in their possession at the end of June, up from 910 at the end of March. Under pressure from its international lenders Dublin passed a law last month giving banks more powers to repossess properties. Fast tracking repossessions will prove politically painful in Ireland, which has a long history of rebellion against evictions. But the decision to concentrate on buy-to-let properties is likely to ameliorate the political fall out from any such move.