The Central Bank needs to do more to make sure that customers from different banks are treated equally when it comes to mortgage arrears. That is according to a number of groups representing struggling mortgage holders.

Figures last month showed the first fall in mortgages with arrears of over 90 days since 2009.

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.

The figures from the Central Bank showed 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% - 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.

David Hall from the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation has told the Oireachtas Finance Committee that the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears does not enforce the same standards across all banks.

And he says people who borrowed with some particular banks are suffering as a result.