Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My concern is that we need to sort out the banks with the mortgages. This is a convoluted way of sorting that out but I accept it was brought forward with the right intention.

The housing aspect is crucial. An issue I raised on Second Stage is the definition of "other persons in the State", which the Minister said is anybody who is a legal entity. Therefore, can there be lending to housing associations such as Clúid and the different types of not-for-profit social housing providers through this vehicle? The commentary the Minister made earlier suggests it can. However, it is very clear in the legislation that this is directed particularly at SMEs. While there is a major problem with credit to SMEs, we know there is a social housing crisis and this is a vehicle that could be made available for cheaper credit to those bodies.

I would be interested to hear why social housing as a particular area is not identified within this new company structure, given that the Minister is modelling this on KfW. KfW has been successful and now lends a huge amount of credit into the German economy and economies throughout the world, with more than half going into the Germany economy but much going to companies that have links with German companies in other countries throughout the world as well as to other programmes. It has different structures, however. For example, one of the banks under KfW, Mittelstandsbank, is the one which deals with SMEs. If we examine the other structures within it, they deal with investment in housing, education and the environment. My fear is that the Government has decided to just look at one part of this and has left out the other parts.

Deputy Boyd Barrett's amendment identifies one of those areas, housing, but we could equally look at the others, such as education. However, given housing is a major crisis, access to cheap credit is needed and this is a vehicle that could be used. I believe the Government should consider supporting the housing aspect of this amendment. I would welcome it if Deputy Boyd Barrett would explain exactly how lending to those who cannot pay back their mortgages would work in regard to solving this problem.

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