Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I disagree with the Deputy as regards the loan. It is in existence as a safety valve, an alternative for people who cannot get a loan from the financial institutions. There is no great activity in the financial institutions on the granting of loans for house purchase by first-time buyers. On account of the loan being available, it is possible that the financial institutions are prepared to give people loans. As regards the level of activity, since the changes were introduced recently in April, the number of visits to the dedicated website has increased by 154%. New visits represent approximately 80% of all traffic on the website. We know this because of the number of contacts from auctioneers around the country. There is no significant cost involved in providing this loan. I am not prepared to remove it until I am satisfied that the financial institutions are making loans available to the public, especially first-time buyers.

See this speech in context