Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In case I gave the Deputy misinformation, it was not 750 refused. There were 850 applicants. Some 573 are still going through the process and over 40 have gone through it. A couple of hundred did not pass the test. In most cases, it was that after they engaged and made the applications there were parts of the scheme they did agree with or the application did not pass the social housing requirement test, that is, it was in an area where there was no demand for it. In some cases, the house would have needed much more than €40,000 spent on it, or it would not have been suitable. Those people were encouraged to sell the house, perhaps to the local authority. In some cases where it would not have been viable it would have made more sense to buy the property because, given the value of the property, it would not have been worth entering the scheme.

However, they have not been notified yet, as far as I am aware. This was only discussed and agreed at the housing summit and the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, made the announcement afterwards. It is something we could consider. It would make sense to re-engage with the people who expressed an interest so we will do that on foot of today's discussion.

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