Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)

It is on promised legislation. Just bear with me because I have tried this a number of times over the past six months and I have not got a straight answer. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government is present so I hope we can get a straight answer. Four out of ten local authority loans are in serious distress of 90 days or more, which is more than four to five times the rate of those who have borrowed from private lenders. I have raised this issue on the Order of Business and with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste on Question Time, but I have got no further with it.

Local authority officials are at their wits' end trying to balance books. People are coming before the courts and losing their houses-----

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