One in ten residential mortgages remains in arrears according to the Central Bank.

Figures for the first three months of the year show a decline in the numbers - the fifteenth quarter they've reduced.

Over 76,000 principal private residences - or one in 10 - were behind in payments at the end of March.

That was down by over 1,000 from the end of December.

The bank says over 120,000 mortgages have been restructured and 87 per cent of those are meeting their new repayments.