Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Tánaiste is well aware the housing crisis is very serious, and he was personally involved in many of the public announcements by the Government on this particular issue. The news yesterday that the number of homeless families increased in the month of February is exceptionally disappointing and is totally unacceptable in Irish society. There are now 3,755 children homeless in the State and a total of 10,000 people in Ireland will be homeless tonight. Sister Stanislaus Kennedy and Fr. Peter McVerry have stated they have lost confidence in the Government's ability to deal with the homelessness crisis. The Government has abandoned the homeless.

The Tánaiste must also be aware that rents have increased, house prices have increased and supplies have decreased. Recently, the Government announced a new initiative called the Rebuilding Ireland home loan for making home ownership more affordable for first-time buyers. This is a Government-backed mortgage scheme for first-time buyers and is available nationwide from all local authorities. First-time buyers can apply to purchase a new or second-hand property or build their own home and they can borrow up to 90% of the market value of the property. Applicants must be in continuous employment for a minimum of two years and have an annual income of not more than €50,000 for a single applicant or not more than 75,000 for a joint applicant. These are the people the Taoiseach says get up early in the morning to go to work. The Government is not helping them either.

To be honest, the scheme has got off to a bad start. From information I have received from several local authorities, more people appear to have been rejected for these loans than have been approved. Many of the people meet the criteria, but examples of the reasons given to applicants for loan refusals include - these are all personal cases I have seen from a number of local authorities in recent days - repayment capacity not demonstrated, unsatisfactory financial management, or savings records outside the terms of the scheme, as in somebody who is divorced or legally separated. The scheme sent to local authorities does not facilitate them. As recently as two days ago, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government confirmed in the Dáil they can avail of the scheme in certain circumstances but that has not been communicated. Will the Tánaiste confirm the level of funding available? How many mortgages can be granted out of the fund? What is the number of applications received? What is the number of refusals? How many loans have been approved to date?

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