Mr. Philip Nugent:

This year we are meeting the costs from within the existing provision. It is coming from within capital assistance scheme and the leasing programme. It is impossible to say for 2011 because there has been only one transaction. The breakdown of the estimate for next year has not been fully finalised yet in terms of what is going into the capital assistance scheme and leasing. Let us consider the average price of an acquisition - €180,000. The capital element provided by the Department would be approximately €43,000. The remaining balance would be drawn down as loan finance by an approved housing body. There is a current cost associated with that in terms of the leasing. That is how it would break down on a per unit basis.

The Deputy asked where the obstacles might lie. It is important to bear in mind that it is a big decision. Even if someone is at the end of their tether with mortgage arrears and has been struggling for some time, it is still a rather difficult transition for such a person to move from being a home owner to a tenant. We have built a couple of cooling off periods into the system, one formal and one informal. Applicants can waive their cooling off period but there is a 28-day period and a further period of approximately 40 days at different stages in the overall process. That is one delay factor. People need time to become conditioned to the idea that they will be losing ownership of their home.

Moreover, it is difficult to say from the Department's perspective because it is not our specific remit to pressurise financial institutions to accept this. It is being rolled out as part of the overall mortgage arrears resolution process, for which the Central Bank and the Department of Finance have responsibility. All mainstream lenders are engaging with us and the Housing Finance Agency at this stage. Almost all of them have brought forward possible cases for inclusion in the scheme. The sub-prime lenders have been more active but I imagine it is easier for some of them, who do not envisage a future in lending in Ireland and therefore they may be quicker to initiate those end-of-the-line conversations with people. There has been are reluctance by some institutions to have that difficult conversation with people and to say they believe a person's days as a home owner are numbered. There was a certain reluctance to have that first conversation. However, at this stage all the main lenders are engaged. Now that we have gone through the process we know what is involved. We are at an advanced stage with others and there will probably be some more completions this year. We envisage it should run smoothly next year.