Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome all of our guests and thank them for the documentation provided by the three speakers who have contributed thus far. I also welcome the members of the Right2Homes organisation and commend all of those who have been involved at the coalface in helping people, whether they are mortgage holders or tenants who have been caught up in a horrendous housing crisis, stay in their homes. We share the objective of helping people to stay in their homes. That is my objective and that of my party and we want to ensure that any proposals and solutions are workable, achievable and capable of being delivered. That is the motivation behind the questions I will put as I seek to tease out some of the issues.

I will start with the mechanics of the proposal. Deputy Pearse Doherty went through models A, B and C.

If it is not the case that all mortgages in arrears of one year or more would automatically be purchased and swept into this new national housing co-operative, would this be done on a case-by-case basis? I had understood that the original concept was that every single mortgage in arrears of one year or more would automatically be taken into the co-op. Perhaps the witnesses could address that issue.