Sinn Fein has hit out at Finance Minister Michael Noonan after data from Central Bank revealed that five families a day are losing their homes.

Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty accused the government of "political cowardice" in allowing banks to sell distressed mortgages to unregulated vultures.

Teachta Doherty criticised the government's failure to implement the main planks of its programme for government plan to tackle mortgage arrears.

He said: "Promises to review the insolvency thresholds and set up a new Special Mortgages Court sit on the legislative programme six months after they were due to be published. A commitment that the Central Bank would amend the Code of Conduct seems to have been rebuffed altogether by Governor Lane.

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"The Abhaile MABS service is up and running but is only scratching the surface in the numbers of people in arrears it has helped out. This government has well and truly taken its eye off the ball when it comes to mortgages.

"It is unfortunately clear that this government, like the last, lacks the political will to tackle this issue. The banks and the vultures will clean up this mess in their own way at the expense of struggling families.

"It is extremely worrying that 41% of family home mortgages owned by unregulated vulture funds are in deep arrears. When we hear about banks turning profits and bankers getting grotesque bonuses we have to remember that they have sold many of the tough cases to unregulated vultures to deal with.

"Political cowardice has let them away with these sales while political backsliding has allowed these vultures remain unregulated."

(CD/LM)