Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a couple of questions, but I will try not to cover stuff already dealt with.

On new business, there are many people, particularly in Dublin were there are high rental costs, who if they could secure a mortgage would pay a significantly lower amount than they do in rent. Nevertheless, they have a major difficulty in either finding or saving the deposit, as they might be paying €2,000 per month in rent for a three bedroom house. The mortgage repayment on the property might be €1,200, but they are not in a position to save. Equally, the amount spent over six, seven or eight years on rent is not being counted by the bank. The people in question argue that they cannot save because all of their money goes on rent. They are not gambling or spending it on nights out or holidays. It is going on rent. Are there solutions to be offered to them such as the bank taking into account the fact that they are spending the money on rent? They could show records from landlords or of transfers in bank accounts to landlords over a period of time. Is there any way the bank could take into account their genuine ability to pay back a mortgage based on rental payments?