Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On bridging finance, the local authority home loan is useful. I meet representatives from the three main banks regularly. I have met representatives of PTSB, AIB and Bank of Ireland to discuss this matter. The retail banks are pushing towards the green mortgages, which would be ideal to lend on and provide bridging finance. The meetings I had with them were positive. I have not met the credit unions. I know there has been engagement with them on this and that some credit unions are lending on the basis of the grant certificate being issued. There is a real opportunity for financial institutions to do something for their communities and for prospective homeowners.

On the percentage of properties, if we are to deliver 40,000 homes this year, we are tracking the vacant homes coming back into use. I am tracking the vacant homes coming through the Croí Cónaithe grants in our affordable housing listings, once the work has been concluded. We can scale this up even further.

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