Banks are actively seeking to repossess 249 homes in Co Louth, according to new figures from the Courts Service, published in today’s Irish Times.

As of January 1^st, 290 civil bills had been lodged in the last year with 41 repossession orders granted by the court.

This means that 41 homes have been taken off people in the county in the last year, with far more under threat going by the number set to come before the courts in the coming weeks and months.

In total there are more than 7,000 cases in the pipeline around Ireland with 1,063 orders granted last year.

Figures published last week by the Central Bank show there were 110,336 residential mortgage accounts in arrears at the end of 2014.