Michael Noonan was commenting on figures released yesterday which showed the first fall in mortgages with arrears of over 90 days since 2009.

The Minister says the banking sector is now "normalising" with the financial crisis "almost over".

He also stated that while things are looking up for people in arrears there's no room for complacency:This comes on the back of yesterdays announcement that the number of mortgages in arrears is continuing to fall. 136,564 accounts - or 17.9% of the total number - were in some form of arrears at the end of last year.

It compares to a level of 18.4% at the end of the third quarter of 2013.

New figures from the Central Bank show that mortgages in arrears of less than 90 days fell by 5.7%.

Accounts behind in repayments by more than 90 days dropped by 2.3%. This was the first such fall since September of 2009.

However the number of mortgages in long-term arrears of over 720 days increased buy more than 1,700.

Commenting on the financial crisis, Minister Noonan says Ireland's banks are returning to normal - with the financial crisis "almost over".

End-of-year results for Bank of Ireland and AIB show both banks have greatly improved their financial positions over the past year.

Minister Michael Noonan says both institutions have arrived at a "turning point" for mortgage arrears and are meeting their targets.

He's welcomed the improved stability at both banks and says he believes Ireland will soon have a "normal banking system":