Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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72. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the cost of mortgage protection insurance associated with the Rebuilding Ireland home loans and the way in which this impacts on the size of loan a person can borrow; the way in which the cost is determined; the way in which the provider was selected; the way in which he plans to reduce the cost associated with the insurance; and his further plans to address the lack of clear information on the Rebuilding Ireland home loan website regarding the implications for the size of loan a person may be eligible for when the cost of mortgage protection insurance is included. [19842/18]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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465. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason for the high cost of the compulsory mortgage protection insurance for Rebuilding Ireland home loan applicants; the reason applicants are debarred from sourcing their own more competitively priced mortgage protection insurance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19643/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 72 and 465 together.

It is a statutory requirement that mortgage protection insurance (MPI) is taken out in respect of all local authority housing loans.

The Local Authority Mortgage Protection Insurance scheme is a group scheme, overseen by the Mortgage Protection Insurance Committee. This is a sub-committee of the County and City Management Association (CCMA) with representatives from the CCMA, local authorities, the Housing Finance Agency, as well as my Department.

The scheme has applied to all house purchase loans approved by local authorities after 1 July 1986. One of the conditions of the scheme, which is a group policy, is that it is obligatory for all borrowers who meet the eligibility criteria to join the scheme. Altering this condition would have a negative impact on the scheme and increase the cost for all existing borrowers.

The insurance scheme is subject to periodic review and competitive tendering in accordance with the terms of EU Directives relating to the award of public service contracts. This is to ensure that the most appropriate cover at the best value for money is secured for local authority borrowers over the entire life of their mortgages.

The most recent public procurement competition for the provision and administration of this MPI scheme was conducted by the Office of Government Procurement. The new contract resulting from this open tender competition came into effect from 1 January 2017 for a period of 3 years.

The local authority MPI is a group scheme and is designed to provide an appropriate level of insurance cover to those who wish to avail of the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan. It offers a number of additional features over and above the standard MPI products available on the market. Standard MPI products are individually priced, based on a member’s age, amongst other factors, whereas the local authority MPI scheme is a group arrangement, offering a single group rate per €1,000 sum assured to all participants in the scheme.

The scheme also provides other benefits over standard MPI products. These include the payment of mortgage repayments if there is a valid claim as a result of disability; an additional payment of €3,000 in the event of a member’s death, separate to life cover; and members are also covered for death up to age 75 rather than 65 as is the case under standard MPI cover.

Regarding the information available to prospective applicants on the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan website, I am aware of issues concerning the inclusion of the cost of MPI in the on-line calculator. I have recently met with the Chief Executives of the two main agencies involved in its implementation, the Housing Agency and the Housing Finance Agency, and I have directed that they address a number of issues to improve the operation of the scheme. One of these involves amending the on-line calculator in order to take the cost of mortgage protection insurance into account. This will therefore give potential applicants a clearer indication of the amount that they could be eligible to borrow under the scheme.