Only one case has been finished since the mortgage-to-rent scheme was launched in 2012 in County Laois, according to Fianna Fáil.

The party is calling on the banks to "radically overhaul" the scheme, which is supposed to offer a sustainable solution to people in mortgage arrears.

TD for Laois Sean Fleming said: "Under the scheme, the family will lose the ownership of the home but will continue to live in it. Instead of paying a mortgage, the banks transfer the house to an approved housing body. The family can then continue to live in the house and rent from the housing body instead of paying a mortgage to the bank.

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"Figures supplied to Fianna Fáil by the Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly show that just 88 mortgage-to-rent transactions have been fully completed nationwide, with only one of those by Laois County Council.

"Against the backdrop of recently published data from the Central Bank showing that over 30,000 families may lose their home, this is a truly abysmal performance by the mortgage-to-rent scheme.

"With thousands of repossession proceedings in the system, it is deeply concerning that the Government's mortgage-to-rent scheme is failing miserably to provide a safety net for those in arrears facing the prospect of losing their home.

"The Government needs to urgently review the scheme, remove the unnecessary bureaucracy and complexity inherent in it, and make it workable."

(CD/JP)