Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

It is far better to keep people in their homes and the fear that they might lose their home is an added worry when they lose their jobs. A number of people have responsibility for this matter. The financial institutions themselves must ensure they are willing to reschedule payments from people who find themselves in difficulty.

We have flagged this as part of any recapitalisation programme for the banks and have also spoken about it in the framework document which was agreed last week. These are issues which financial institutions have to take very seriously. In fairness, the major financial institutions have foreclosed on very few people and are conscious of this situation. Where people go to them to seek a reschedule of a loan, they should agree to it.

The next step is for the person themselves to seek help with their interest. We have set aside a budget of almost €30 million this year to cope with the demand for mortgage interest supplement. As I indicated, more than 8,000 people are receiving it and we anticipate that there will be more. As the year progresses, we will keep the situation under review.

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