Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

In light of the Taoiseach's announcement on Tuesday, I wish to refer to the Financial Regulator's proposal to examine a specific code on mortgages. Can the Minister provide a clearer picture as to what that entails? The vast bulk of expenditure by those in the private and public sectors is on mortgages. When will the Government introduce some scheme to grant relief to mortgage holders who lose their jobs? While the current rate of home repossessions is quite low, it can be reasonably assumed that the rate will increase seriously in the next few years. I would like to get some response from the Minister in that regard.

The Taoiseach's statement also referred to tax credits available to companies and exemptions on capital gains tax. If the exemptions were significantly increased beyond €40,000 it would give a further incentive for people to come into that sector. The back-to-education allowance should be amended to allow people who are going to become unemployed to avail of educational training, including how to start up their own companies, without losing their entitlements. We need to be a bit more imaginative. If we are going to create tax exemptions based on production in the smart economy, one must create incentives for people to get into that sector in the first instance.

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