Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I note what the Minister is saying and I do not dispute it. In fairness, Abhaile is a great service. However, there are people falling through the cracks. Her Department has accepted that, given there are 400 families still in receipt of mortgage interest supplement seven years after the closure of the scheme and following intensive engagement with them. I want to focus on the unfortunate families who in the weeks and months ahead, as the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, ceases and they try to go back to work, will find there is no job available for them. The current mechanism is only kicking the can down the road. Those people need a short-term supplement to ease the mortgage pressure they are under, rather than just loading more debt on them until they get new employment. As a temporary measure, we should allow the payment of mortgage interest supplement in those circumstances.

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