The purpose of the mortgage interest supplement scheme is to provide short term support to eligible people who are unable to meet their mortgage interest repayments in respect of a house which is their sole place of residence. The supplement assists with the interest portion of the mortgage repayments only.
At the end of December 2010 there were 17,974 people in receipt of mortgage interest supplement, an increase of 337% over the 2007 figure. There are currently over 18,500 households benefiting from the scheme for which €77.2m has been allocated for 2011.
The Department's review of the administrative, policy and legal aspects of the mortgage interest supplement scheme was published in July 2010 in conjunction with the interim report of the Mortgage Arrears and Personal Debt Review Group. The final review of the Mortgage Arrears and Personal Debt Review Group was published in November 2010. These reports set out a number of recommendations. These recommendations are centered on the delivery of significant customer service improvement by ensuring that State support for those unable to deal with mortgage arrears is better targeted, consistent and easily understood. Allied with the focus on customer service improvement are recommendations that seek to ensure that lending institutions, borrowers and the Exchequer share responsibilities and commitments in a balanced way.
The recommendations set out in the Mortgage and Personal Debt Review Group's final report are now being considered in the context of other commitments contained in the Programme for Government in relation to mortgage holders and are now informing the wider remit of the Economic Management Council's review. Specifically, the issue of distressed mortgages is being examined by the Economic Management Council's (EMC) subgroup on Mortgage Over-Indebtedness. The subgroup is due to report to the EMC at the end of September with the final report being issued to Government by the EMC. Any proposed changes to the operation of the Mortgage Interest Supplement will form part of this report.