Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I urge the Leader to give serious consideration to the suggestion that the House hold a regular debate on the economy. I read about an interesting development in the United States where it has been proposed to provide for a legal right to rent. Repossession is one of the biggest threats we have to the family home. Under this new right to rent concept, a person struggling to pay a mortgage of €1,000 per month would be given a legal right to reduce the repayment to perhaps €300 per month for a period of, for instance, three years. At the end of the three year period, the mortgage holder would recommence payments of €1,000 and pay a rent to the bank for the three-year period during which the mortgage repayment was reduced.

They pay a rent to the bank for those three years. The bank ends up getting money and having cash coming in although it has to wait three years longer to get the full amount, or close to it. However, the concept of the right to rent as a legal right has attracted some very serious people in the United States. It is not one I have heard suggested in Ireland but I believe we should give serious consideration to it. A debate on the economy, including the opportunity to suggest areas such as that one for working upon, would be of huge benefit to Irish citizens.