Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

It is extremely important for that message to come out loud and clear from the Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach. We will find ourselves in a position — we are already seeing it at our clinics daily — where people are in grave danger of losing their homes. There is a responsibility on the financial institutions, but also on the Minister and the Department in this respect. If people can get the mortgage interest supplement it may well allow them to keep their home. They can then negotiate with the financial institutions on the basis that they have some extra income to help their repayments. The qualifying criteria must be examined in this respect.

In last night's debate, I made the point that if people do not get the mortgage interest supplement they will fall back on rent supplement and may eventually fall back on local authority housing. The Minister reiterated that point today. Some people, however, will not have the opportunity of relying on local authority housing because if they have opted to buy out such a house they must sign a form undertaking never to seek local authority housing again. Some people, therefore, will find their homes being repossessed but will never be eligible for local authority housing because they have signed away their rights in that respect. They will find themselves in serious danger either of becoming homeless or being left on rent supplement for the rest of their lives. No Member of this House could agree with or stand over that situation. Unless the mortgage interest supplement criteria are changed, and community welfare officers have more flexibility on the size of mortgages they can assist with, people will find themselves in that position.

In parts of the country in recent years, people bought out local authority houses at seriously expensive prices. Ten years ago it was a different story and in many ways such purchases were a good deal, enabling people to move up the property ladder. Many people bought local authority houses and sold them on to buy private houses. They will also be debarred, however, because they were originally in local authority housing. We must face that obstacle in the coming months and unless the criteria are changed, such people will have no alternative but to remain on rent supplement or emergency payments.

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