UP to 10 cars a week are being left abandoned outside Dublin Airport, as increasing numbers of Irish and foreign nationals quit their homes and debts and leave the country.

This equates to roughly 1,000 abandoned vehicles over the last two years at Dublin Airport.

Irish Mortgage Broker's Operations Manager Karl Deeter says there has been a notable increase in those abandoning their homes, cars, and debts for another country.

"There is no doubt that this is a remarkable problem now. Not only are we seeing that banks have an increasing amount of abandoned homes in stock, but loans are being left outstanding, and the fact that car hire companies are having to tow away cars on a regular basis shows the problem in a clearer light."

According to Deeter, 30% of those who bought new homes during the property boom were foreign nationals who have since relocated to their home countries.

"When you have all of these patterns emerging, it makes common sense that they have to connect somewhere. A great number of those who bought new properties over the last few years were foreign nationals, and we are now being told that there is an extremely high number of those foreign nationals emigrating."

According to Central Bank arrears figures, 30 homes were repossessed by the banks in the first three months of 2010 due to abandonment.

Deeter says that there is no criminal repercussions for those who default on loans and abandon their homes.

"This level of repossession speaks for itself, and this figure is currently rising. However there are no criminal consequences for those who decide to up and leave the country. There is no form of international debt police. Given this, I find it astounding that more foreign nationals and even Irish are not just standing up and deciding to walk away," Deeter added.

An expert review undertaken by academics in University College Dublin (UCD) and Trinity College Dublin (TCD) earlier this year also found that over 17% of housing units, or 345,000 houses, are currently lying dormant countrywide.