David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the previous Senator said, section 11 of the Bill phases out mortgage interest supplement - effectively abolishing it. Mortgage interest supplement is being abolished in the absence of effective action to tackle the mortgage arrears crisis. Last year's budget had an announcement about mortgage interest supplement which we regarded as disingenuous. Last year the Minister introduced a rule preventing people from accessing mortgage interest supplement for 12 months. For many struggling families this scheme offered a glimmer of light at the end of a year-long tunnel. However, now, just ten months later, the Government is about to extinguish that light altogether. The scheme is being abolished in the absence of any other income support for homeowners who may lose their jobs.

I listened to the responses the Minister gave in the Dáil in respect of similar amendments that were tabled there. The Government's policy rationale for abolishing the scheme is that it was always intended to be a short-term support. It is possible to argue, for example, that the rent-supplement scheme was intended to be a short-term support. Will that be up for the chop next? Will we get rid of rent supplement because it was seen as a short-term measure? Many of these schemes, when initially introduced, may be designed to be short-term measures, but become necessary in the long term because no other measure has been put in place. The logic for introducing something as a short-term support is that it is being done while coming up with something more helpful for those people who find themselves in mortgage distress.

Based on many of the responses the Minister has given on this issue, the Government seems to be pinning many of its hopes on the mortgage-to-rent scheme. People come to my office every week with letters from their banks asking them to sell their homes. They are trying to keep the family home and are doing their best to pay some of the mortgage. They want to explore options such as mortgage-to-rent, split mortgages or the range of options the Government claims exist. However, for the most part, the banks will not entertain it. Very small percentages of people are being given the opportunity to take up the mortgage-to-rent scheme but the vast majority are not.

A couple with one child living in a three-bedroom house cannot go into the mortgage-to-rent scheme because of issues with over-letting. There are many anomalies. The ultimate problem with any of these schemes on which the Government seems to be pinning its hopes, is that the banks effectively have a veto and many of the banks simply will not entertain mortgage to rent and many of the other so-called measures.

Like Senator Byrne, I am opposing this section, primarily because it is wrong and also because no alternative is being introduced. There is no joined-up plan offering a real solution to people in mortgage distress. Along with the troika, many organisations and economists are also saying the Government needs to get its act together on helping people in mortgage distress and finding it difficult to pay their mortgages. We need a real solution that is durable and helpful to people in such distress, but that is not the case at the moment. In that context to effectively abolish the mortgage interest supplement is unhelpful and will make matters worse for people who are in what is often a very desperate situation. I oppose this section for those reasons.