Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am asking the Department to address this in the context of the nuts and bolts of how these schemes work. I know of couples who have split up, legally separated and sold the family home. They might have ended up with €20,000 having cleared the mortgage. However, under the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme, one of the parties must still live in the original house. I think I am correct in saying that. Under the scheme, a loan will be given to the person who must look for a new house. A condition of the scheme is that one of the parties must stay in the house. One of the parties may not have benefitted financially to any extent or may have only ended up with €10,000 but is ineligible. I ask the Department to clarify the exact specifics in such circumstances. People are coming up against that barrier. Applicants have suggested to me that it is unconstitutional that their right to access this loan scheme is being jeopardised by virtue of the fact that someone now unconnected to them lives in a particular house, namely, the former family home.