Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I agree and hope the Minister of State is right that mortgage holders in arrears can recover the situation and find employment. However, there are many thousands of mortgage holders out there in serious arrears with no prospect of being able to deal with them. This is an ideal scheme. Unfortunately, we have seen that the personal insolvency and bankruptcy processes are flawed. In many cases, bankruptcy means loss of the family home. The key to the scheme is that the mortgage holder can stay in the family home. Everything should be done to ensure that people are given that option. To date, the scheme has not been promoted properly. It is not out there and mortgage holders are often unaware of it. I ask the Minister of State to launch an awareness programme for the scheme through local authorities and the media.

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