Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The legislation refers to a figure of €3 million. Can the Minister give us an insight into how he arrived at the figure of €3 million? If one had an average mortgage in the region of €250,000-€280,000 and if we add in issues of personal debt, one could also add the mortgage of a buy-to-let property and still come up short of €1 million. A ceiling of €1 million captures the vast majority of people.

There is uncertainty in respect of the ECB. Did the Minister have discussions on the issue with members of the troika when they were in town recently? What did the members of the troika say about this? Another troika opinion is due on the matter but may not be published until next week. FLAC highlighted this as an issue and it is correct in saying that no reasons have been provided for the figure of €3 million. At the same time, no concrete reasons have been given for the ECB recommendation to reduce the figure to €1 million. Perhaps the Minister can enlighten us on how he came up with the figure of €3 million. Fianna Fáil will support the reduction of the limit from €3 million to €1 million.

See this speech in context