Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Fianna Fáil group and I would like to express our sympathy to the family of the former Senator, Noel Mulcahy.

I wish to refer to the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme, for which there is a fund of €200 million.More than 1,600 people have been approved for the home loan scheme so far and 575 home loans with a total value of €107 million have been drawn down. This leaves just over €90 million in the fund. More than 1,000 people who have been given loan approval have not yet drawn down these moneys. The proportion of approved applicants who draw down the loans appears to be higher than 50%. Using basic mathematics, it seems there will not be enough money in the fund for those who would like to draw down the loans. These are people on the margins who are vulnerable and are relying on the Rebuilding Ireland home loans.

There are many questions that we must ask. I note during Leaders' Questions today, my party leader, Deputy Micheál Martin, put many questions to the Taoiseach and was unable to get clarification. For instance, what exactly is the Central Bank's view on the home loans? The Minister, in December, stated he would provide another fund. Today, the Taoiseach was unable to give my party any answers as to whether that will be the case and indicated he would ask more questions. Was this fund a mistake? Is it reckless lending on the part of the Government? What is the current status of the fund? Has the Minister directed that no more loans are to be approved? The Minister has described the fund as a success. If it is the case that the fund has been closed and no more approvals will be made, this is a loud noise that we are hearing over and over again. It is important to have a debate on the Rebuilding Ireland loan scheme. We need facts because people are relying on these loans and if the shutters are coming down, they need to know what their options are.

A report from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul on struggling families titled, Working, Parenting and Struggling?, has found that one in 11 working lone parents was living below the poverty line in 2012 and that number had jumped to one in five by 2017. It is clear we are not doing enough for working parents. Unfortunately, Dublin South Central has one of the highest rates of lone parents, many of whom are women. The Government needs to do much more to support women who are lone parents to ensure resources are available to them and to allow them to go back to work and support their children and ensure their children are not living in abject poverty and enjoy equality of opportunity, as other children do.

The use of electric motorised scooters is an issue that has been in the press. We see these scooters in cycle lanes. Clarity is needed on whether the Garda should enforce road safety laws or whether this is in the remit of Dublin City Council. We need clarification on whether these motorised scooters should be insured. We need a short debate in this House on the issue. I drive every day and these scooters seem to be on the increase. They are dangerous and it would be easy to hit them because they are travelling faster than bicycles. I would like a debate in the House on motorised scooters.