Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

Regarding mortgage interest supplement, I am concerned about whether it is efficient. However, I have a greater concern, namely, the protocol with the bankers' federation and the Minister's claim that only nine houses were repossessed in the first quarter of this year. I am concerned that the Minister is believing the bankers. The people referred to did not disappear. They sold their houses so they would not been seen to have had them repossessed or else had some way of meeting their settlement. The banks did not take such people as far as the High Court and then say, "You are all right. You can stay there". They still lost their houses, but lost them in a different way.

I am still not satisfied that mortgage interest supplement is being equitably distributed in terms of how it is decided. People are still being told they should not have entered into a contract to buy a house because they could not afford it. They could afford it at the time, but now the price of the house seems disproportionate, whereas two or three years ago it did not. The issue needs to be addressed.

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