Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Question Nos. 37, 44, 45, 58 and 421 together.

There are 16,800 people in receipt of mortgage interest supplement, compared to 8,000 recipients in 2008. Expenditure for the year ending December 2009 was €60.7 million and the Estimate for 2010 is €63.9 million.

Generally, all applications for mortgage interest supplement are recorded electronically. However, as this practice can vary across community welfare areas, full statistics for the number of people who applied for mortgage interest supplement are not available. Community welfare officers have been reminded on many occasions to record the details of receipt and status of all claims electronically. However, requests to change operational procedures must be viewed in the context of the increased demands being placed on community welfare officers in the current economic environment.

The mortgage interest supplement scheme is currently under review. The main purpose of this review is to examine how the scheme can best meet its objective of catering for those who require assistance on a short-term basis. The review group includes representatives from my Department, the Community Welfare Service, the Departments of Finance and Environment, Heritage and Local Government, and the Office of the Financial Regulator. As part of the initial review, guidelines on specific and immediate operational issues were drawn up and circulated to the community welfare officers. These guidelines are available on the Department's website at www.welfare.ie.

The group is examining trends in programme and administrative costs, the impact of the Financial Regulator's statutory code of practice on mortgage arrears and legislative and operational issues arising. The review is also considering whether alternative approaches to achieving the scheme's objectives are warranted in the light of recent changes in the economic climate and the mortgage market.

More recently, the Government has established a broader and more comprehensive review of mortgage arrears and personal debt. The mortgage arrears and personal debt review group, under the independent chairmanship of Mr. Hugh Cooney, comprises representatives from my own Department, the Departments of Finance; the Taoiseach; Environment, Heritage and Local Government; Justice, Equality and Law Reform; and Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. In addition the group has representatives from the Office of the Financial Regulator, the ESRI, the Irish Banking Federation, the Free Legal Advice Centre and the Law Reform Commission.

The terms of reference for the group are based on the renewed programme for Government, with an emphasis on protecting the family home. They include a review of the statutory code of conduct on mortgage arrears and the recently agreed protocol between the Irish Bankers Federation and the Money Advice and Budgeting Service on debt default, with a view to expanding the options available for dealing with debt situations to avoid foreclosure. In addition, the group is examining measures adopted in other jurisdictions and considering ways of expanding existing mortgage-support measures. The group will report to the Minister for Finance in the coming weeks. The conclusions and recommendations from the review of the mortgage interest supplement scheme, which is currently being finalised, will inform the work of this group.

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