Ireland mortgage crisis update

Enda Kenny's in-tray is full of horrors. First up, on Monday, were keenly awaited mortgage arrears figures which showed 10% of homeowners are now struggling to pay.
New mortgage arrears figures released on Monday by the Central Bank show 6% of the country's households are now in mortgage arrears – 44,508 homeowners have not made a monthly payment for more than 90 days.
This compares with 28,603 in arrears the previous year to the end of December 2009.
Worse – there are a further 35,205 who have done private deals with banks – to pay interest only, get mortgage holidays etc. That's 80,000 in total who are in arrears or have restructured mortgages, meaning 10% of the total mortgage population are in trouble.
These figures will be a cold shower for Kenny and his team, because they underline how real the prospect of a second wave of debt default is, something economist Morgan Kelly predicted last year when he suggested 19th century-style social revolt from the middle-classes.