Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 87: To ask the Minister for Finance the position regarding the interdepartmental group on debt and mortgage arrears; the number of times this group has met to date; the timeframe within which this group will report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9232/10]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 90: To ask the Minister for Finance when the new personal debt committee will be established; if the membership will be representative of groups affected by personal debt; when same will report; if he is committed to implementing the committee's proposals, even if they incur a cost to the Exchequer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11453/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 87 and 90 together.

Last November after the publication of the Renewed Programme for Government and the Governments decision to review the mortgage arrears issue, I approved the setting up of an Inter-Departmental Mortgage Arrears Review Group, for the purpose of bringing together all relevant information in Departments and examining options in relation to the matter of support for home owners facing the problems of mortgage arrears and repossessions. This Group met on two occasions. On 25th February 2010 after consultations with my Cabinet colleagues, I informed the Government of my proposals to expand the membership of the Group to include external experts, under the independent Chairmanship of Mr. Hugh Cooney an insolvency accountant, and to extend the remit to include personal debt.

The other external members of the Group are as follows:

The Group also includes senior officials of the Departments of Finance, Taoiseach, Justice Equality and Law Reform, Social and Family Affairs, Communications Energy and Natural Resources, and Environment Heritage and Local Government.

The revamped Group has met once on March 5th and will focus initially on bringing forward recommendations in dealing with the mortgage arrears problem and will later address the personal debt issue. I expect that these recommendations will be made to me on a rolling basis as the Group progresses with its review. I will then consider the merits of each of the recommendations before deciding on whether to submit to Government for decision. The Deputy will appreciate that all proposals will need to be fully costed before being recommended to Government and will also have to represent value for money from the point of view of the Government and taxpayers.