Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have not seen Sinn Féin's proposal. I am sure it will be published, if it has not been already. If the Deputy wants to send it to me, I will take a look at it.

Targeting through mortgage interest relief is difficult. In my initial remarks, I referenced the way in which the distribution of the benefit of mortgage interest relief in the past was heavily skewed in favour of the highest income deciles. It was just the nature of how that relief worked. Of course, one could build in caps, limitations and so on, but the wider issue is that we have to deal with the cost-of-living crisis in the round. This means introducing a range of exceptional measures on the expenditure and taxation sides, as we did in the budget. The Government has imminent decisions to make in that regard.

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