Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 864: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when a review of an application for mortgage interest relief will be undertaken in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; if an appeal of same will be accepted. [38608/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which includes mortgage interest supplement, is administered on behalf of the Department by the community welfare service of the Health Service Executive (HSE). The Department has no function in deciding entitlement in individual cases.

Mortgage interest is defined in Section 187 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (as amended). In accordance with this provision, a mortgage interest supplement may be paid on the full amount of interest payable, where the loan has been taken out for the purchase, repair or essential improvement of the sole or main residence of a person or to pay off another loan used for that purpose. Where a loan, or a portion of the loan, has been used for expenditure not associated with the purchase or repair of the sole or main residence of the person, a proportion or all of the interest on the loan is not reckonable for the purpose of mortgage interest supplement scheme.

Under Article 10 of the Social Welfare (Consolidated Supplementary Allowance ) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 412 of 2007), a supplement towards mortgage interest may be payable where the Executive is satisfied that the amount of mortgage interest payable by the claimant does not exceed such amount as it considers reasonable to meet his or her residential and other needs and where the Executive considers it is reasonable to award a supplement having regard to the amount of any arrears outstanding on the loan.

The Executive has advised that mortgage interest supplement has been refused to the people concerned as the qualifying conditions, as outlined above, are not satisfied. Notification of this decision issued on 7 October 2009.

This parliamentary question has been accepted as an appeal against the decision to refuse mortgage interest supplement to the person concerned and notification of the appeal has been forwarded to a designated Appeals Officer of the HSE. The person concerned will be contacted by the Appeals Officer and requested to outline in writing the specific grounds of his appeal.