Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I must say that there is a real problem with this scheme. As the Minister pointed out, only 12,000 homeowners are in receipt of it, yet we have almost 100,000 people in mortgage arrears, many of whom have lost their jobs. The reality is that some of those people do not have the economic wherewithal to sustain an arrangement with their lenders for 12 months of interest-only payments. They are too poor to do that, so if the Department does not give them mortgage interest supplement they are in danger of losing their homes and then coming back to the Department looking for rent supplement. It does not make any sense to me. A number of homeowners in my area are in that situation. The process needs to be reformed straight away.

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