Ms Clare Costello:

Chair, you asked at the outset how much the average will be. These are very indicative figures, but we have looked at some calculations, and the average, we suspect, of the tax relief for all mortgages would be €600. For those with tracker mortgages, who have experienced the largest increases in their interest bills over the past year, the average is in the region of €900. For those with variable mortgages it is approximately €250, and for those with fixed mortgages it is just lower, at €240. We therefore expect those with tracker mortgages to benefit the most. That is a natural follow-on from the fact that they have experienced the largest increases.

With respect to your question about the threshold, we had ongoing discussions with the Minister on that. He asked us to look at a number of options, and in those options the thresholds were arrived at in the discussions with the Minister.

Finally, as to how this will operate in practice, Revenue is very conscious that, as you said, there may be some taxpayers out there who have not engaged with it previously in respect of things such as filing tax returns. It is very conscious of making this as user-friendly as possible. The way it will be claimed is that the taxpayer will go onto their myAccount system and will provide some straightforward information: their name, address, PPS number, eircode. Mortgage holders get a statement from their bank showing the amount of interest either accrued or paid. They will then, with their bank statements that they will have got from their bank at the end of the year, use that information to upload the amount of interest they have paid in 2023 and in 2022, and the Revenue system will calculate the amount of mortgage interest, the difference between the two and then the amount of tax relief. It is a bit like what I said to Deputy Conway-Walsh about the rented residential premises relief. Revenue is still in discussions with its IT people in respect of this. It is extremely conscious of trying to make this as user-friendly and as easy to access as possible because it wants people to be able to avail of it. From a timeframe perspective, it is looking to have this in place by early January, or sometime in January, in early 2024.