Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

Senator Darragh O'Brien raised the question of mortgage relief which he has raised on several occasions. I have pointed out on those previous occasions that the Government in the 2012 budget introduced an expanded mortgage interest relief scheme for those first-time buyers who purchased their homes during the boom years of 2004 to 2008. These are the people most likely to be in mortgage arrears. The Government is taking urgent action on mortgage arrears and it has also agreed to new personal insolvency legislation, which Senator Bacik has mentioned, which will also allow heavily indebted people trapped in unsustainable mortgages to be given a chance to restart their lives. The Government is very aware of the problem of mortgage arrears and the impact on families. We will be living with the effects of this dramatic crash of the property market for many years to come. The Government's primary focus in this area is to help those who genuinely cannot pay their mortgages. I will, however, endeavour to have the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, come to the House at the earliest possible opportunity, to discuss that issue again and to outline the policy in more detail.

On the point raised about the Irish language, the Senator can be assured that this Government will not pay mere lip service to the Irish language rather it will promote policies to encourage and promote the language at every possible opportunity.