Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the passing of Lieutenant General Gerry McMahon, who was the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces in 1995 and who gave 45 years of distinguished service to his country. Lieutenant General Gerry McMahon will be missed by many veterans. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

I have spoken many times on homelessness and housing. I congratulate the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, on the initiative he announced yesterday. As has been stated many times in the House, it is not possible to resolve the homelessness problem overnight. There is no magic bullet for building housings and apartments at the rate at which they are needed. However, the Minister's initiative provides people who are in rented accommodation and wish to buy a home at realistic prices with an opportunity to do so. However, the initiative has one slight downside, namely, the requirement that participants make a deposit of 10% of the purchase price of the house. While I acknowledge that we cannot fix everything, this requirement is a problem. I am familiar with a case, one with which I have a personal connection, involving someone who has paid €87,000 or €90,000 in rent in recent years. It will be difficult for this person to save a deposit of 10%. I ask the banks to consider the possibility of offering a loan at favourable rates to cover the 10% deposit. While I am aware that this would involve a return to 100% loans, this issue needs to be addressed.

If people outside the Pale who are in trouble with their mortgages could remortgage based on the new scheme proposed by the Minister, they might avoid losing their homes. If I am not mistaken, the 2% or 2.25% interest rate announced by the Minister would mean a couple on a joint income of €75,000 would not spend more than 25% of their income on mortgage repayments. If the interest rates announced by the Minister were to apply, it could result in fewer people being added to the homeless list.

I appreciate that the €200 million sanctioned by the Minister for the new scheme was probably for new homes only. He could take a further incremental step that would prevent people from becoming homeless. I compliment the Minister who has been getting a great deal of stick for purportedly either doing nothing or doing this, that or the other. He is making slow but sure progress and made one announcement after another. The problem has not been completely fixed, nor will it be completely fixed. The Leader and I will be long gone from the House or, I hope, back after an election before-----