Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I wish to highlight the excellent work done by the staff of the Department of Social and Family Affairs and their efficiency and accountability in terms of explaining decision making. When one goes to them on appeal, they are always flexible. I have never yet met a case where I did not basically agree with the decision they made. It is an excellent performance. If other Departments were as accountable, available, approachable and understanding of human nature as the Department of Social and Family Affairs, it would be an important day.

A number of people have come to my office recently who have no benefits or stamps because they worked in a self-employed capacity in the building industry. There is a need to do whatever one can but we also need to look to the future and introduce a scheme which would be optional for such people. While one can have private insurance, many of these are young people who started off in the middle of the boom and while they had an income previously, they now have nothing. We need to put in place a support system so they might benefit from insurance stamps for the self-employed. They could make a contribution from their wages, which would give them some assurance, if and when they lose their work, that they will have some kind of income and not be down to nothing. It is a serious issue.

Another issue resulting from the recession relates to people who are in trouble with their mortgages, particularly sub-prime mortgages. Start Mortgages is a company providing such mortgages, and one I have dealt with personally. The Minister should be aware that a person came to my office last week to show me a text reading "Final notice" because Start Mortgages had been sending out final notices by text to people who were in trouble with their mortgages. The company phoned them repeatedly over a period of days to discuss the issues with them. The problem was that the families involved were paying 8% or 9% interest, which is extremely high and almost double the normal mortgage rate.

The interventions that are needed when people get into such difficulties are not available in a structured way. There is the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, which is excellent, but we need to put in place structures so that if people get into mortgage difficulties, support is available early on, when they are, say, €3,000 or €4,000 in arrears. There needs to be a relationship between the person in trouble, the Department of Social and Family Affairs, MABS and the other relevant housing agencies. This process should automatically include a referral of the problem to MABS so it can analyse the issues and give good advice, which it always does.

The Minister should ensure that Start Mortgages and sub-prime lenders in particular are dealt with. We need to tell them they cannot just crucify people when they get into difficulties. Many such people have borrowed beyond their means and most are in negative equity. We need a structure in place to deal with this. The other lenders — the banks, the building societies and the fund for distressed mortgage holders — need to be brought into the process, which should be structured so that the families involved are offered choices.

People who are harassed, hounded and haunted have come to my office with their problems. They are in tears because they will lose their homes but it is too late in many cases because the debt is too much at that stage. Earlier and focused intervention is needed and the banks and building societies must play their part. They must consider these cases and decide whether, for example, they could offer these people mortgages at 5% if their debt was under €5,000.

The situation gets worse and worse for such families. They get more messages and harassment and end up losing their homes, as we read in the newspapers. A judge of the High Court recently made some not very complimentary remarks about Start Mortgages and he was right to do so. In many cases, that company is bleeding people dry when they cannot afford to hold onto their homes and are in total distress.

I also wish to raise the issue of fuel poverty and support the point made by Deputy Deenihan. An analysis was carried out perhaps five years ago with regard to death rates among older people in Norway and Ireland. While the population base and the climate was much the same in both countries, more older people were dying in Ireland than in Norway. The reason for this was the thermal efficiency of the homes. It is not just about the cost of fuel but also about the fuel that goes up the chimney or out the windows and the cracks in the doors. We need increased support to make homes more thermally efficient, which would make a significant difference, particularly for the elderly.

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