Ms Niamh O'Donoghue:

There are two different elements to discuss. The Deputy is correct to say that the number of people in receipt of mortgage interest supplement has reduced, and the budget line has reduced between 2011 and 2012, and what is projected for 2013. There are a number of factors involved in that. Primarily, there have been two changes to the way in which the scheme is operated. As the Deputy might be aware, a number of different interdepartmental and working groups have examined the issue of support in the mortgages area. We had our own direct review in 2010. We participated in the Keane review and were a party to its recommendations. We continued to work with the various interdepartmental groups leading up to yesterday's announcement.

The rationale for the mortgage interest supplement scheme was to provide short-term relief for people who were in mortgage difficulties.

It was mentioned in the Keane review that immediate access to mortgage interest supplement might actually be a deterrent for people to engage properly and quickly with the banks or their lenders in the first instance. This gave rise to a change in conditionality under the scheme which was introduced in law last year, which means people have a 12 month window period in which to engage with their lender before they can access the supplement. This would have introduced a change to the numbers of those eligible to apply.

The second change was that the actual contribution of individuals to their mortgage interest payments was increased in line with other increases in social welfare rates and contributions. The contributions of the households of individuals and couples have been increased since 2010. What this meant, particularly for those in receipt of local authority mortgages, was that the level of contribution required exceeded the amount in interest to qualify in the first instance. Again, this reduced the actual numbers eligible for relief under the scheme.