Cabinet Ministers have been holding their first meeting since the summer recess.

Before the meeting, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said that additional measures were required to tackle the growing problem of mortgage debt.

Figures from the Central Bank yesterday showed that more than 55,000 mortgages were in arrears.

The minister said proposals on how to tackle the issue would be ready by the end of September and noted that the banks had enough capital to write off some of the debt.

Mr Noonan said the last round of stress testing of the banks also tested mortgage debt - and this was one of the reasons so much capital was given to them.

The minister admitted that mortgage indebtedness was a pressing issue for a number of families and had to be dealt with at policy level.

Fianna Fáil’s Finance Spokesperson Michael McGrath criticised what he called a "total lack of coherence within the Government" regarding debt forgiveness.

"The Government needs to make a clear statement as to precisely where it stands on debt forgiveness and clear up the ever-growing confusion it has itself created."

Fine Gael TD for Dublin South, Peter Matthews, who is a banking and finance consultant by profession, said the banks had been slow in dealing with mortgage debt.

He said that distressed mortgages should be looked at on a case-by-case basis.

Legal rights group FLAC described today's comments by Mr Noonan as "the first sign of any real urgency from the Government to tackle the issue".

FLAC Director General Noeline Blackwell, said the Government needed to come up with an urgent policy response that takes into account not just mortgage arrears, but the entire personal debt crisis.

Fine Gael and Labour ministers returned to Government Buildings for their first Cabinet meeting this morning following what was one of the shortest Government summer breaks in decades.

Among the issues to be discussed was the legislative programme for the forthcoming new Dáil term.

Ministers were expected to discuss the upcoming referenda on judicial pay and on giving Oireachtas committees the power to make findings of fact following the Abbeylara judgment.

Those referendums will be voted on in just under eight weeks' time, on the same day as the Presidential election.