Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 157: To ask the Minister for Finance, further to Parliamentary Question No. 61 of 1 March 2012, if he will provide details of the number of cases in 2011 and to date in 2012 in which the Revenue Commissioners has denied mortgage customers the benefit of mortgage interest relief by virtue of the level of mortgage arrears they have; the criteria used by the Revenue in making such decisions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14036/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that in relation to mortgage arrears cases reported to them, each case is considered on its individual merits before a decision is made on the continued appropriateness of the granting of mortgage interest relief on the particular mortgage account. I am advised by Revenue in relation to cases reported to them by the lender that in broad terms:

· Where no payment is being made against the mortgage then the payment

of mortgage interest relief is immediately ceased.

· Where an amount of interest is being paid and Revenue receives confirmation from the lender that a structured arrangement has or is being put in place to address the arrear, mortgage relief will continue to be granted in accordance with the relevant interest relief provisions, including relevant thresholds on the maximum interest relief payable.

In instances where relief is ceased on the basis that no payments are being made against the mortgage and subsequent to that, the mortgage is the subject of repayment in accordance with an agreed schedule with the mortgage provider then, subject to an application for the relief by the mortgage holder, the payment of mortgage interest relief is restored in accordance with the relevant interest relief provisions, including relevant thresholds on the maximum interest relief payable.

I am further advised by Revenue that in respect of the 3,865 accounts reported in 2011 and 1,108 accounts reported to date in 2012, reviews are ongoing in some instances and not yet finalised. Additionally, the details of the reviews are maintained at an individual account level and the results are not readily capable of being aggregated across the nearly 5,000 accounts involved. However, based on an informal sample of results carried out for the purpose of this Question, in the order of 50% of cases would be likely to result in the ceasing of mortgage interest relief on the basis that no payments are being made against the mortgage.