Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 198: To ask the Minister for Finance if an exemption on mortgage income tax relief will be granted when a couple has a home loan for more than seven years but in the past couple of years had the rate of interest fixed by the lending institutions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15577/09]

Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 199: To ask the Minister for Finance the mortgage of persons (details supplied) in County Cork regarding abolishment of mortgage interest relief after seven years. [15578/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 198 and 199 together.

The position is that Mortgage Interest Relief for principal private residencies will cease for all mortgages from the 1st May, where the mortgage holder has been in receipt of mortgage interest tax relief for more than seven years. The exception to this rule is where a new loan has been taken out in the last seven years for the purpose of buying a new home or for the purposes of repair, development or improvement of their current home.

The fixing of the rate of interest on an existing mortgage does not, in itself, constitute a new qualifying loan. In the circumstances outlined in both of these questions, no exemption from the abolition of the relief is available.