An Oireachtas Committee has recommended that the current home repossessions moratorium be extended from 12 to 24 months.
The Oireachtas Committee on Social and Family Affairs has examined the level of debt in Ireland and considers how best to protect those at risk of defaulting on their mortgages.
The report was drafted by committee members Olwyn Enright and Thomas Byrne and recommends that support should be provided for people in mortgage arrears.
It also recommends that a ban on charging penalty interest on arrears should be implemented.
Today's report also suggests a radical overhaul of the mortgage interest supplement scheme, as it finds there is a lack of consistency and fairness in administering the programme.
The Oireachtas Committee met the Irish Banking Federation, MABS, the Central Bank and many other groups and individuals working in the relevant area.
Fine Gael's Olwyn Enright says that policy and practice needs to be changed to cope with the new reality which the economic decline has presented.
She said she was hopeful the Government will embrace the proposals in the report, which she said were real and workable.
Thomas Byrne said the report is timely and should feed into the work of Government.
He said that some of the suggestions in the report had been backed by the banks and could serve all sides involved. He also said that people needed to look outside the box when trying to develop solutions.
