Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I thank you for the opportunity to raise this issue, which is the revised measure on mortgage interest tax relief that came out of last year's budget. One of the commitments in the programme for Government was to find a way of expanding the mortgage interest tax relief programme to focus on house buyers who bought their homes between 2004 and 2008. This measure was enacted by the Minister for Finance in last year's budget.

A constituents contacted me early in the year to signal that they were encountering difficulty having the measure applied by their bank. I raised the matter in a parliamentary question with the Minister and directly with the Department of Finance. I was given to understand that there may be delays, depending on the bank, in the application of the measure. Later in the year, to my amazement and horror, I was contacted by my constituent again to say they were, once again, having trouble with their bank implementing the measure.

Are we aware that, in some cases, we need banks to implement the measure to ensure people can accrue an advantage from the new policy? Are we aware of the considerable delay by some banks in the implementation of the policy? Does the Department actively track banks to ensure that the measure is being passed on? I was stunned, when I was approached by my constituent for the second time, to find that, many months after the budget, the measure had not yet been passed on to them.

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