Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply and for leaving open the door that people who are renting and renting may have the protections afforded to them under section 2. The Minister referred to my Family Home Protection (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill from 2011 and I wish to take this opportunity to acknowledge the Minister's good faith in this regard. During the debate in 2011, the Minister asked that I withdraw the Bill to avoid forcing a division in the House on something for which there was cross-party support. At the time, the Minister indicated he would consider ways to have what the Family Home Protection (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill was trying to do brought into the law. Essentially, section 2 is the result of that and I wish to acknowledge publicly the good faith under which the Minister has laboured. It is greatly appreciated.

I take the Minister's point that this might be available in some situations. The reason I emphasise this issue is because a great number of people are in this position. Most of my friends are in this situation, as I imagine are a great many other people in their mid-30s. Such people bought tiny homes for far too much money that they could not afford and did not really want but by 2008, 2009, 2010 or 2011, they had kids, would no longer live in a one or two-bedroom apartment and have moved out. However, although they would love to do so, they cannot sell. Obviously, the original idea would have been to sell and to buy themselves a three bedroom semi-detached house in which to raise their family and so on. However, they are stuck for a few reasons, the first of which is that the tax position changes completely. Once one leaves one's home and one rents, one no longer gets the mortgage interest supplement. One cannot deduct the full costs from the rental income in respect of tax, as this was reduced from 100% of interest to 75%. Moreover, these same people will now be charged PRSI on the rental income. Consequently, the financial and taxation hit for being obliged to move out is huge and it would be a great pity if such people could not be afforded the protections afforded under section 2.

The purpose of section 2 essentially is to stop the bank from repossessing homes when a sensible personal insolvency arrangement, PIA, could be constructed. Financially, and economically, that is just as important for people who are renting and renting. I do not refer to people who have bought their home-----

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