Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

The more one listens to this debate, the more one realises that it would not be a three-way problem if we just nationalised the banks we have recapitalised. We could then square the circle properly and force the banks, as they should be forced, to engage reasonably and fairly with people who are in mortgage difficulties primarily because of the banks' activities. However, the previous Government did not do so and neither will the current one.

The politicking between Fianna Fáil and the Fine Gael-Labour Government is beside the point and trivialises the matter, if the Minister does not mind me saying so. Regardless of what the last Government did, and I might agree with the Minister on those points, the key question applies to people in mortgage difficulties now and who might require mortgage interest supplement. They should not find themselves in more difficulties as a result of this legislation being passed.

We agree that the banks should be put under pressure to engage and the sum of €50 million is a significant amount, but does the Minister envisage a saving as a result of this? Is that budgeted into this matter? If so, it might colour whether we understand this to be a cut masquerading as something else. Is the Minister envisaging a saving? She is shaking her head, so maybe she could confirm in her reply that she does not anticipate any saving as a result of this measure.

Can she clarify one point concerning someone who loses their job who would otherwise have applied for and received the mortgage interest supplement, but now cannot access it and must engage with the bank to come to some arrangement? Is it correct that such persons will not receive mortgage interest supplements unless they have entered into an engagement and have complied with it for 12 months? Is that not what this amendment says?

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