FINE GAEL has pledged to ease the burden on hard-pressed home owners who bought houses in recent years by providing mortgage relief for the “negative equity generation”.
The plan unveiled by finance spokesman Michael Noonan involves an increase in mortgage interest relief for people in negative equity, saving them up to €166 per month.
The plan was immediately attacked by Fianna Fáil spokesman on communications Willie O’Dea, who accused his fellow Limerick city TD of auction politics. “It is nothing but an uncosted gimmick designed to exploit the very real concerns of people who face troubles because of their mortgages,” said Mr O’Dea.
Under the Fine Gael plan mortgage interest debt relief will be increased to 30 per cent for people who were first-time buyers in the period 2004 to 2008. At present it operates on a sliding scale of 20 per cent to 25 per cent.
The scheme would be financed in part by bringing forward the abolition of relief for new buyers to June of this year.
The Fine Gael plan proposes to expand the means-tested mortgage interest supplement scheme by capping the interest charged by lenders at the European Central Bank base rate plus 1 per cent or the contracted mortgage rate, whichever is lower.
Mr Noonan pledged to centralise the scheme to improve uniformity of access and speed of processing applications.
He said Fine Gael would, if necessary, legislate to stop mortgage lenders charging penalty interest rates or forcing families to give up their low-cost tracker mortgage rates on rescheduled mortgages.
Mr Noonan added that the party would require banks in receipt of State support to give homeowners every chance to renegotiate the terms of their mortgage to avoid repossession during difficult times.
He also said Fine Gael would shut down Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society by the end of the year and stop asset transfers to the National Asset Management Agency from other banks.
Labour Party education spokesman Ruairí Quinn said his party in government would not unilaterally tear up the EU-IMF deal. While admitting parts of the bailout were non-negotiable, he insisted elements could be changed and a government with a new mandate could bring this to the negotiating table.
Labour also published its green jobs plan, which contains proposals to put about 30,000 unemployed construction workers back to work through a new national retrofit scheme to insulate people’s homes.
Green Party chairman Senator Dan Boyle said his party could prove to be a bridge-builder between Fine Gael and Labour if it was involved in a new rainbow coalition.
Sinn Féin called for the abolition of the universal social charge and the introduction of a third rate of tax on incomes over €100,000.