Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

There are a number of initiatives, none of which involved the preparation of legislation. We tried to come forward with some practical initiatives that would help mortgage holders with specific issues to deal with and to support those in difficulty with mortgages. It is worth recalling that the Government has already provided help to over 16,700 families with the mortgage interest subsidy scheme. We increased the advisory services divided to them through the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, introduced a statutory code of conduct on mortgage arrears for all lenders, extended the six-month moratorium on legal proceedings to 12 months, refocused mortgage interest relief on those who purchased their homes at the peak of the market with extensions up to the end of 2017 and we established a mortgage arrears and personal debt expert group to make recommendations in line with our commitments under the renewed programme for Government. An interim report has already emerged from the process. The Law Reform Commission, under the aegis of the Minister for Justice and Law Reform, is addressing the issue of debt management and enforcement. We will consider further initiatives in this important area.

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