Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

To be clear, what the banks are proposing here is 0% loans to those with affected homes. They are going to provide this to non-bank customers - people who do not have accounts, borrowings or mortgages with them. This is for everybody. The easiest way for this to happen is actually for the Department itself to do it. Instead of having to go through the bank, the Department should provide this money upfront. The Minister's officials suggested that to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. When the Department of Finance received these documents, the Minister's officials wrote back and asked why the Department does not just up the money at the start instead of having to go through a middle person in terms of the finance. The point I make is that it is six months on and all the families are still left in limbo. We have papers moving from the Minister for Finance to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, from one Department to the other and on to the BPFI and in the middle of all of this we have families in distress, who are crushed. Even if we get over this hurdle, the person I talked about who had to put their hand in their pocket and find €100,000 will still have to do this. This is just a tiny issue that will help a few people-----

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