Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is no reason banks today cannot step in and provide bridging finance to the homeowners concerned.

The Ministers, Deputies McConalogue and Darragh O'Brien, and I have discussed this issue again in recent days. As Deputy Doherty knows, the issue with a State guarantee is that it will require legislation and there are potential state-aid issues so I want to find a faster way of getting this resolved. There is no barrier preventing banks from stepping in and providing bridging finance to the homeowners concerned, other than their own commercial decisions. The State has legislated. We have put a scheme in place. The scheme is open. The funding is available. We want it to be drawn down. My officials will continue to work with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I am entitled to make the point that there is no inhibition to prevent lending decisions being made to provide bridging finance today. The State is good for its money. The State is going to provide the remediation funding to the households and therefore the banks will be repaid on that basis.

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