Vol. 216 No. 4
asked the Minister for Local Government if he is now in a position to state what arrangements he has made to ensure that adequate finance is made available, either under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Acts procedure or in some other way, to building societies and individual applicants for housing purposes; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
25.
asked the Minister for Local Government whether he has received from the building societies the information referred to in a reply of 1st June; if he will state the information which he sought to indicate the trend of the societies' activities; and when he proposes to resume discussions with the societies.
26.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he will consider (a) investing money directly in the building societies, (b) increasing the ceiling for SDA loans, (c) alternatively forming a new fund and lending money at the building societies' terms and to a greater ceiling than SDA loans, and (d) expanding the services of the National Building Agency.
27.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he will take steps to overcome the building crisis before the Summer recess and so prevent complete unemployment in the building industry.
28.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he will make a statement regarding the proposals which the Government have in mind to overcome the difficulties of house purchasers in getting loans from any source at the present time.
29.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he will make a full statement on the present situation with regard to the provision of housing loans by (a) building societies and (b) insurance companies; and if, in view of the urgency of the need for houses and of the insuperable problems which now face the average person wishing to purchase a house, he will state what steps he proposes to take to remedy the present situation.
30.
asked the Minister for Local Government if, having regard to a report (details supplied) that it was only a question of time before there would be a complete close-down on house building in Dublin, he will take effective steps as a matter of urgency to ensure a continuance and expansion of house building and the preservation of employment in the building and allied trades.
31.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he will state, having regard to the inadequacy of the present local authority house purchase loan schemes and the present crisis in the house building industry in Dublin, what steps will be taken as a matter of urgency to extend the loan and income limits of the schemes and to make money available to meet applications for increased loans.
32.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he will raise the income limit for local authority loans to £1,600, and the ceiling limit to £3,500, in view of rising building costs.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 24 to 32 inclusive together.
As indicated in my reply to Questions Nos. 18, 19 and 20 of 1st June, I have had discussions with the building societies in regard to the trend of their activities. The information sought related to their activities this year as compared with last year and to the level of loans for old houses as compared with new houses. I also asked their views as to ways of securing greater co-ordination between their loan activities and those of local authorities. The building societies are at present considering these matters and I have arranged to meet them again tomorrow.
Will the Minister consider, in his discussions with the building societies, making some arrangement whereby existing applicants will have permission granted to them to proceed with the completion of the necessary loan facilities? Whatever may arise out of the discussions as to future arrangements can be announced at a later stage but at present there is a hold-up on applicants who have applied for a considerable time and could he make arrangements so that those persons who have applications in will get an opportunity of proceeding with their applications to completion?
I will pass the Deputy's suggestion on to those people when I meet them.
