Fianna Fáil is calling on the government to overhaul the Mortgage to Rent scheme and make it fit for purpose.

The party made the call after only over 160 cases involving Approved Housing Bodies have been fully concluded since July 2012.

Fianna Fáil Finance spokesperson Michael McGrath said under the scheme, the family will lose the ownership of the home but will continue to live in it.

Mr McGrath said: "Instead of paying a mortgage, the family will pay a rent to an approved housing body, such as a voluntary housing association.

"Figures supplied to me in the Dáil show that just 162 Mortgage to Rent transactions involving Approved Housing Bodies have been approved nationwide since its inception in July 2012.

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"This represents less than four per month. Against the backdrop of 38,000 family home mortgages in arrears of two years or so, this is a truly abysmal performance by the scheme.

"There has only been a marginal increase in the rate at which cases are being concluded since the former Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly announced changes to the scheme amid much fanfare last year.

"With thousands of repossession proceedings in the system, it is deeply concerning this this scheme is failing miserably to provide a safety net for those in arrears who are 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)