Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have raised this previously but when the Minister saw what was going to happen in this catastrophe for people who were working, many of whom owned houses rather than rented them, was consideration given to a mortgage interest supplement, which had been available to 2014 - it has been available for as long as I can remember until it was stopped suddenly in 2014 - to match the rent allowance? The big divider in this society is often between those who have mortgages and those who do not. In that kind of situation someone is getting along very well. They are paying their mortgage and doing everything right but then suddenly hit a wall, so to speak. I do not believe in the policy of leaving oneself to the mercy of those beautiful things called banks. They are private institutions that take one's money off one as fast as they can do it. They are not exactly charitable organisations. Was consideration given to providing a mortgage interest supplement so that the biggest fixed cost that people cannot avoid would be covered, where it existed? Help would then given to all of those who did not have a mortgage while those who paid rent could legally apply for rent supplement.