Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)

These amendments were published last Monday. While an impact analysis is carried out on all legislation when published, there was no impact analysis of these significant Committee Stage amendments, which is wrong. People are still trying to get their heads round the proposed amendments and their impact on the most vulnerable in society.

Amendment No. 17 states that to qualify for mortgage interest supplement a person must engage with the mortgage arrears resolution process. However, there is no obligation on the banks to offer an alternative payment arrangement under that process. The amendment states that a person can only apply for mortgage interest supplement if he or she has, arising from such engagement, entered into and is, where required, complying with an alternative repayment arrangement. What happens if the bank refuses to offer an alternative payment arrangement?

A large proportion of the mortgage repayment of people who purchased homes in the past few years goes on interest. The people applying for mortgage interest supplement are more than likely people who have lost their jobs, who are already unable to meet their mortgage repayments and who, if the mortgage arrangement offered by the bank is an interest only payment arrangement, may not be able to comply with that arrangement. The amendment not alone states that an agreement must be entered into but that the person must be compliant with the alternative arrangement. As such, a person who is offered an interest only payment arrangement will not be able to access mortgage interest supplement because he or she may not be in a position to comply with the interest only arrangement. In that situation, a person would have to wait 12 months before applying for mortgage interest supplement. This creates a number of problems. It does nothing to help those people in short term difficulty, namely, those who have lost a job or have been placed on temporary working. If a person in such situation cannot access the mortgage interest supplement he or she will end up in arrears on their mortgage, which they will have to try to clear if they find new employment.

The second issue relates to a person who is offered an alternative arrangement payment by the bank, such as an interest-only arrangement, but is unable to meet the terms of it. If such a person had the ability to access mortgage interest supplement, that could represent the difference between them being able to make a interest-only mortgage payment and not being able to do so. This needs to be examined. We are talking about the most vulnerable people in society. We have been told that one of the aims of this Government is to ensure nobody loses the roof over his or her head. The amendment that has been proposed will make the loss of homes a reality because it will cause people to face increased backlogs, arrears and difficulties. If someone is unfortunate enough not to have regained full employment after the 12-month period has elapsed, an assessment will be made of whether mortgage interest supplement will be paid to him or her. One of the criteria that will be used in that assessment will be whether the mortgage arrears are manageable. The introduction of this amendment will increase the possibility of a build-up of an unmanageable backlog of arrears. That is a flaw in this proposal. I ask the Minister to withdraw the amendment.

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