Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Kildare County Council gives six months for approved applicants to draw down their allocated loan under the scheme. If it has not been drawn down within the six-month period, the money is then recycled and given to the next applicant in the queue. There is a big issue also in the length of time people must wait after they have applied. It is very difficult to rent and to save for a deposit at the same time. If a person gets the allocation, he or she has just six months to find the right house to seal the deal.

I have also encountered the issue where there are multiple applicants, especially in Kildare and I am sure in the greater Dublin area, Meath and Wicklow also, who apply to several county council lists for the Rebuilding Ireland home loan. Has the Minister considered a national register where the Housing Finance Agency could act as an overarching body so that when a person has applied in more than one county and is allocated the funding in one county, he or she could then be knocked off the other lists? This could give the opportunity to other people in Kildare who are also waiting on the list. Currently, it can take six months for it to become apparent that the person who is in front of them on the list will not be drawing down that money. We need to get the money recycled quicker and get it back into the system quicker.

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