Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----the fact they cannot get out of debt.

Even still, I do not favour restoring the mortgage interest supplement scheme on a short-term basis. One has a mortgage for 20 or 30 years, maybe 40 years. Say one cannot make repayments for six months or a year for whatever reason, whether because one is sick, loses one's job or has gone back to college or overseas for a year or two. Other taxpayers should not have to pick up the bill. Why not add six months to the end of the mortgage? The first port of call should be the bank to either increase the repayments when the borrower is back repaying or add an extra year at the end. I do not see why the taxpayer should have to pick up the bill for a borrower's temporary inability to pay a mortgage for a short period.