Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

The Government is acutely aware of the increasing financial stress that some households face arising from difficulty in meeting their mortgage commitments. Against this background, the Government's Economic Management Council, prior to the summer recess, requested an interdepartmental group to consider further necessary actions to alleviate the increasing problem of mortgage over-indebtedness and to report to it by the end of September.

The outcome of the work done by the group, which was chaired by my Department and comprised representatives from other relevant Departments, the Central Bank and expertise from the banking sector, has been presented to the Economic Management Council. I will bring the report to Cabinet next week, after which it will be published. I anticipate that the Dáil will be given an opportunity to fully debate the contents and findings soon afterwards. Until the report has been considered by Government and released into the public domain, I do not wish to make any further comment on the contents.

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