Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 761: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his plans for legislation to rectify the situation whereby persons who have bought their home under the shared ownership scheme cannot remortgage without triggering the clawback; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17442/07]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Homes sold to first time buyers under the various affordable housing schemes at a discount from market value are subject to a clawback provision, in order to prevent short-term profit taking on the resale of the house to the detriment of the objectives of the schemes.

Where a purchaser of an affordable home bought by way of shared ownership wishes to buy out the local authority's share at any stage within 20 years, current legislation requires that the clawback also be bought out at that stage. A number of issues have been raised with my Department concerning the operation of this requirement in certain circumstances and these are currently under consideration. Amending legislation would be required in the event of it being decided to introduce any changes to this requirement.

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 762: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his plans to ensure that persons who buy their home under the shared ownership scheme, and are therefore obligated to purchase mortgage protection insurance from the local authority, are able to obtain this insurance at competitive rates. [17443/07]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The local authority mortgage protection insurance scheme has applied to all house purchase loans approved by authorities on or after 1 July 1986. One of the conditions of the scheme, which is a group policy, is that it is obligatory for all local authority borrowers who meet the eligibility criteria to join. Altering this condition would have a negative impact on the scheme and increase the cost for all existing borrowers.

The scheme is overseen by the Mortgage Protection Committee, which is a sub-committee of the County and City Managers' Association (CCMA) and is representative of the CCMA, the Housing Finance Agency and a representative of my Department. While I am satisfied that the terms and conditions of the existing scheme are satisfactory, I will keep the arrangements under review in consultation with the Mortgage Protection Committee.