Government support for hard-pressed mortgage holders set to be announced in the Budget could be means-tested, Minister of State Niall Collins has said.
Speaking on RTÉ's Week in Politics programme on Sunday, Mr Collins indicated that a limited support was under consideration.
He said such a scheme would consist of “targeted interventions to help mortgage holders” who have faced hikes following interest rate increases by the European Central Bank.
“There is merit in progressing it ... it is a similar type of scheme where people can be means-tested and people can avail of that targeted [support] for a limited period of time until such time as we find mortgage interest rates relieving people again.”
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The Government is considering using the budget to introduce a limited form of mortgage relief, likely to be administered through the welfare system and modelled on the mortgage interest supplement, a payment that was phased out during the austerity era.
Mr Collins told the programme that tax breaks for landlords and renters would be on the table for next month’s Budget, and defended the government’s Housing for All programme, arguing that ramping up the supply of social and affordable housing and cost-rental plan would help alleviate record homelessness figures.
Sinn Féin’s spokesman on Foreign Affairs and Defence said the proposal was typical of the Government’s response, saying it was “piecemeal and always too little, too late”. Sinn Féin has proposed a broader measure, but there are concerns that a more universal strategy would funnel support to those who don’t need it and could favour homeowners with budgetary resources over others.
Ministers are discussing a plan similar to one that existed until 2017 and provided short-term support for thousands of eligible people who were unable to meet mortgage interest repayments.
While more than 12,000 borrowers benefited from the scheme in the last year before it was closed to new entrants, at an annual cost of €43 million, it would be a far cry from the sort of universal relief being sought by the Opposition for all mortgage holders.
