Fianna Fail is calling on the Government to overhaul the Mortgage-to-Rent scheme.

Only 119 Mortgage-to-Rent transactions have been approved nationally since it was introduced, the party has revealed.

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 family will pay a rent to an approved housing body, such as a voluntary housing association.

Deputy McGrath stated: "Figures supplied to me by the Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly show that just 119 Mortgage-to-Rent transactions have been approved nationwide. Against the backdrop of 38,000 family home mortgages in arrears of two years or so, this is a truly abysmal performance by the Mortgage-to-Rent scheme.

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"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. I have been trying to work through the scheme on behalf of a number of families in mortgage distress and I have to say I have found it to be a bureaucratic nightmare."

(CD/JP)