Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

Senator O'Brien raised the question of mortgage arrears and the implementation of a strategy in that regard. Everyone agrees last week was one of the better weeks for mortgage holders when the Government, as part of the budget, introduced and expanded mortgage interest relief for first time buyers during the boom years, the people most likely to be in arrears at the moment. The ECB then cut the rate by 0.25%, which immediately reduced tracker mortgages and most banks have announced that reductions will be passed on to other categories of mortgage.