Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 8: To ask the Minister for Finance if he has examined the potential role for increased use of mortgage insurance here as a means of facilitating increased home ownership for people requiring higher loan to value mortgages; his views on measures to increase its use here; the nature of such measures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35113/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will appreciate, mortgage insurance is only one of a number of factors that has the potential to increase home ownership for people requiring higher loan to value mortgages.

Mortgage insurance for lenders is a financial product that already exists in Ireland and providers of the product must be authorised in accordance with the European Communities (Non Life Insurance) Regulations, 1994 (Statutory Instrument No. 359 of 1994).

The provider should conduct an appropriate assessment of the risk attached to each mortgage in line with commercial considerations and regulatory requirements should it wish to take out mortgage insurance cover.

These regulatory requirements include the Financial Regulator's Consumer Protection Code. The Code requires a mortgage provider to gather and record sufficient information from the consumer to enable it to provide a recommendation appropriate to that consumer. The level of information gathered should be appropriate to the nature, and complexity, of the product sought and allow the provider to provide a professional service. The provider must ensure that, having regard to the facts disclosed by the consumer and other relevant facts about the consumer of which it is aware, the product is suitable to that consumer.