Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

I will deal with the questions in reverse order. The shared ownership scheme involved a type of split mortgage, with the local authority taking an equity share. It is not a million miles from the solutions we are proposing. An examination of that model might offer a way of structuring the split mortgage subsequently.

The Deputy referred to the Minister of State, Deputy Penrose. The reason he is proceeding by putting pilot schemes in place is to work out the detail. We can see many difficulties would arise, but we will probably find solutions by trying out practical examples and testing them in practice rather than in theory. We hope many of the difficulties indicated by the Deputy will be resolved as the Minister of State moves through a tranche of homes with owners on a pilot basis before schemes are firmed up.

On the absence of MABS offices, I do not think we will attach the experts or interlocutors acting on behalf of householders to MABS offices. There might perhaps be an arrangement where cases may be referred by a MABS office to certain individuals in certain areas who will do the negotiations with the lending agency on behalf of the householder. While I am not sure how we will structure it legally - we are trying to figure this out - it does not seem to be an insurmountable obstacle. One would not need a lot of face-to-face connections, as much of the process will be based on documentation. If there is somebody with experience in accountancy who understands the mortgage business and receives the file, it should be possible to negotiate on the basis of what is in the file having met the householder for a short interview. It will be something along these lines, but the Deputy should not tie me to what I am saying. I am exploring the issue by having a conversation with her. We will work through it to see what comes out of it. However, we are not going to keep talking about it; rather, we are going to do it. We will test it to see if it will work.

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