Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 12:

In page 12, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following:"11. The Minister shall, as soon as practicable, lay before each House of the Oireachtas a report detailing the implications of the phasing out of Mortgage Interest Supplement.".

We discussed this issue yesterday evening. When we speak about emigration, we emphasise the importance of young people to this country. This amendment has been proposed because a person's home is his or her sanctuary. This country's mortgage arrears crisis is of mammoth proportions. Some 142,000 family homes are in mortgage arrears. One in every five mortgages in this country is in arrears. In 2012, the Minister and her Department paid €55 million in mortgage interest supplement. She has said she intends to phase out this payment over four years. I agree with her that it is ridiculous to give this money to families, which in turn give it to banks only to end up owing as much as if not more than they owed to the banks at the outset as a result of their capital, principal and interest arrangements with those banks.

I am concerned to ensure every household that is phased out of mortgage interest supplement is linked up with a bank to provide that a mortgage resolution process is put in place for that customer and home owner. Something similar is done under Pathways to Work. I am looking for joined-up thinking between the person who is losing the mortgage interest supplement and his or her bank or mortgage lender. That is necessary to ensure the person in question is not put out of his or her home. I have worked with a bank on behalf of two customers who were in danger of losing their homes. In both cases, solutions would not have been achieved under the mortgage arrears resolution process without my intervention. On both occasions, the case had to go to appeal. In both instances, the standard financial statement had been completed. These people were in difficulty until an oral hearing, which is not part of the mortgage arrears resolution process, was held. The bank was not accepting their figures.

I am not at all convinced. I am not impressed with the banks. I accept that I am being quite strong in my remarks when I say I am not convinced that the Central Bank is managing the process adequately. A former regulator, Mr. Neary, let us down. I am looking for the Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Honohan, to be far more proactive on this issue. There must be joined-up thinking between those who are being phased out of mortgage interest supplement and their banks. That is necessary to ensure a sustainable solution is put in place to help them to keep their homes. That is why in this amendment, I am looking for a report from the Minister. I ask her to speak on that point only.