Mr. R?n?n Hession:

I might ask Ms Nic Giolla Mhicíl to speak on the mortgage point. On the question around liable relatives, I will explain how the liable relatives provision has worked and what it is for. The liable relatives provision is there as a way for the State to recoup some of the costs of the social welfare claim from the non-resident parent. It is not a form of maintenance. There are two ways that can be paid. It can be paid to the Department directly but in most cases it is paid via the lone parent and that is reflected in their reduced claim costs. This came up a bit in the review group discussion. We had to clarify that the liable relatives provision is not a form of maintenance payment.

This applies to the one-parent family payment, not to the jobseeker's transitional payment. The letter that goes out when the child turns seven is to advise the non-resident parent that the liable relative regime no longer applies because it only applies to the one-parent family payment. We are very clear in that letter that this does not affect the parent's responsibility in terms of maintenance. The maintenance arrangements are completely separate to the liable relatives regime. They do not change. They are set by the court and, as a Department, we have no involvement in either the process whereby maintenance agreements are put in place or enforced. We have no role in that. This is a separate, parallel mechanism to enable the Department and the State to recoup some of the claim costs from the non-resident parent. That will no longer apply. That is a money flow from the non-resident parent to the Department, either directly or through the lone parent. It is not a form of maintenance payment. The letter that goes out when the child is aged seven is not related to the non-payment of maintenance.

The Deputy asked whether extra resources would be provided. The Minister for Justice announced, at the time of the launch of the child maintenance review group report, a suite of reforms to family law, including the establishment of family law courts and dedicated family law judges. That programme of work is being done by the Department of Justice. It is also doing a review of enforcement which is, as I understand it, close to finalisation.

What we are removing here is child maintenance payments. The review group was purely looking at child maintenance and the recommendations in respect of child maintenance. Spousal maintenance and other forms of maintenance are not in scope here. I will ask Ms Nic Giolla Mhicíl to speak on the mortgages point.