Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has made a mess of the design of it, as we pointed out at the time, because he took too long to acknowledge what Sinn Féin had spent a year arguing for. It is not just that; he has locked out countless homeowners, tens of thousands, who have seen their mortgage interest rates increase. For example, by requiring that claimants have a balance of over €80,000, he has locked 138,000 mortgage holders who have seen their interest costs rise out of the scheme. Worst of all, his tax credit discriminates against those with low incomes. I raised the case of a single mother whose mortgage interest has gone up by - listen to this - €5,000. She is denied and locked out of the Minister's scheme. Why? It is because of the flawed design and because her income is too low. When the Ministers, Deputies Humphreys and Donohoe, announced this, they said there would be another scheme under the Department of Social Protection. It does not exist. Just like the Government's affordable homes, it does not exist. People are being told to send a unique email to a place only to then be told to go to MABS. Let me tell the Minister about another person. She is also a mother. Her annual interest has risen by €8,000. She is denied the Minister's tax credit. Why? It is because she claims the incapacitated child tax credit and the home carer's tax credit. Her income is too low. Her interest has gone through the roof and the Minister's scheme locks her out. He has made a mess of mortgage interest relief. He should acknowledge that and change it now in order that these families will no longer be locked out of the scheme.

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