Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a question about the mortgage-to-rent scheme, which is probably directed at the AHBs. I have tried to get AHBs to intervene and invest in mortgage-to-rent schemes in Kilkenny. I contacted a few of them and I was told they were not interested on the basis that it was too costly and there was too much difficulty attached. I was very disappointed with the response I got. I mentioned individual cases and I thought the AHBs would be interested in buying the houses and leaving the families in them. I also asked the county council but it said that it did not have a role to play in that regard but that the AHBs did. They could buy houses and take over the mortgage and leave people in their homes instead of allowing the banks to put people out of their houses and them having to go on the list for social housing. I thought there was plenty of scope for AHBs to buy such houses, or at least to look at them and see whether such an option would be viable, in order to keep people in their homes instead of them having to go on the social housing list.

I would like someone to give me a reason they did not use the mortgage-to-rent scheme produced by the Government or use it better. I was very disappointed that, among the few I had contacted, they told me that they did not like the scheme, that it was not fit for purpose and that they were not interested in looking at the houses.