Results 13,381-13,400 of 16,492 for speaker:Ciarán Lynch

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: I thank Dr. Norris, Mr. Nugent, Mr. O'Leary and Mr. Conroy for coming before the committee. There is broad respect for the work of the Housing Finance Agency. While it may be viewed as a financing agency, it does and has created a great deal of value in the social fabric in Ireland. I think housing is an issue of historical importance. Home ownership is very important to Irish people....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: Let me summarise the issues that are outstanding. We are seeing the broadening of social housing provision, which goes back to the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 under which every agency is now defined as a social housing agency provider, once it is registered to be so. The HFA is a lending agency and will be lending more and more to voluntary housing bodies, in respect of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: There is an economic argument for using vacant properties more quickly. The HFA issues a loan that is repaid in the short term and is earning interest on the money lent to the local authority. The local authority will have a house that can generate an income and somebody on the housing list can be housed more quickly. Is it within the scope of the HFA to put a financial instrument in place...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: Let us bring things to a conclusion. There are one or two outstanding items.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: I thought that question was answered, I apologise.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: That is for the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: Correct.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: The reason we have suggested that is because local authorities are tied into that but since the housing Act of 2009, which has facilitated a situation where voluntary housing agencies can also engage in tenant purchase programmes. As we move into regulating the voluntary housing agency with the forthcoming Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill, the requirement could be put upon them also to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: I ask Deputy Humphreys to be brief.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: I will call him again.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: I would like to ask Mr. O'Leary to clarify his comment that the agency has the capacity to borrow or raise €10 billion. Is that in addition to what the agency already has on its loan books, or is that the ceiling up to which it can borrow?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: How far off that ceiling is the agency at the moment?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: The agency could still borrow approximately €5.6 billion.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: I will ask an obvious question. Why are we not engaging in rent-to-buy programmes involving vacant housing in suitable areas across the country where NAMA has properties? I wonder why that issue has not been examined. Perhaps Mr. O'Leary can clear something else up for me. What is the current position with the incremental purchase scheme? Is the agency providing funding to local...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: No local authority in this country is applying the incremental purchase scheme.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: I think that is a good idea. If the agency were able to make recommendations to Government Departments, I would suggest that it should recommend the scrapping of the programme, which was dreamt up at a time when the average house value at the entry price was approximately €250,000. Given that those properties now cost somewhere between €80,000 and €120,000, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: I apologise. I meant Deputy Catherine Murphy. Deputy Ellis and I are on the same psychic level, so I know what he is going to say in a moment. Deputies Murphy and Stanley referred to the Housing Finance Agency as the vehicle that provides funding to local authorities that want to borrow money. Those borrowings end up in three specific categories. The traditional tenant purchase loan,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: Does the agency ask them for the criteria for the insurance that would be applied to that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: There is no requirement to have mortgage income protection or mortgage indemnity insurance - just death and disability insurance.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Discussion with Housing Finance Agency (2 Oct 2012)

Ciarán Lynch: Okay.