Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Louth has probably the two biggest towns in Ireland, Dundalk and Drogheda. There are also big towns such as Ardee and Carlingford. I go through these towns on a daily basis and the amount of houses that are boarded up is an absolute disgrace. Every time I approach the county manager or the housing manager, they tell me that the Government will not give them money. I would appreciate it if the Minister of State could contact the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and the Minister of State, Deputy English, because this has been going on for far too long. One hears about hundreds of millions, or even billions, being invested in housing. There are more than 100 families who could be allocated these houses with the expenditure of a small amount of money. I ask the Minister of State to do that.

I deal with constituents on a daily basis in respect of their loan applications under the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme. It was introduced with great fanfare and promised to help people to get onto the property ladder more easily. My experience of the scheme has been different. A constituent of mine is in a difficult situation with regard to this scheme. He was approved for a loan under the scheme in early December 2019, sourced a suitable home and agreed to purchase it in late February 2020. He paid a holding deposit of €5,000 to the auctioneer and proceeded to get the surveys and all the other bits and pieces he needed to get done at his own cost. He is now in a position to close the purchase of this family home and has been attempting to contact the local authority for over two weeks. He has learned that the person responsible for his case is, unfortunately, out of work due to illness. He is now being advised by the council that it will not be processing any more of the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme applications as they are not deemed to be part of an essential service. It is now May and no definite decision has been made as to when the council can reopen to the public what is, in my opinion, an essential service.

This person's approval is due to expire shortly and he is afraid of his life of losing his house. He is currently working from home and his company is due to reopen towards the end of June.

If this approval expires due to no fault of his own, his biggest problem is he is afraid of losing this home. At present, he is living with his parents, who are both in their 70s and cocooning. This man has for years tried to save up a lot of money. Can the Minister of State reassure me about this applicant? After this, I will forward his details to the Minister of State. This is not only happening in Louth. I am sure it is happening everywhere else. Can the Minister of State give me a guarantee that the person I am talking about and others like him will get the money?

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