asked the Minister for Local Government if he is aware that the Monaghan County Council have no funds available for housing loans; that they applied for sanction to borrow £60,000 for this purpose on 1st September; and that they are still waiting for authority to borrow; and if he will expedite sanction of this loan.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Monaghan Housing Loans.
23.
I am not so aware. The council have available a substantial loan, approved last September, on which no draws have yet been made. Their application to borrow a further loan of £60,000 was made at the end of September and is the subject of correspondence with the council.
Can the Minister forecast when he expects to have this discussion completed as presumably the loan they negotiated in the past is now fully committed to applicants and they now want to receive new applicants which they cannot do until they have authority to borrow a further sum?
As far as I know, currently, since 19th of last month, there is on hand a request for an instalment of the loan sanctioned in September and that is being dealt with in the normal way, and the £60,000 loan about which the question is asked is being dealt with at the moment and certain correspondence is taking place in regard to it with the local authority.
Can the Minister forecast when that correspondence is likely to reach conclusion and sanction will be forthcoming?
To the £60,000?
Yes.
I am afraid I could not say that at the moment. The one that is of more importance is the recent application for the instalment of a loan already sanctioned.
I presume they have got that.
No. There is a further instalment of their original sanctioned loan now applied for.
And they are waiting for that?
That is now being considered.
Then the Minister is two jumps behind me.
I am not; I am a jump ahead of the Deputy.
Can the Minister say if any other local authority is in the position where it has not got money for housing loans at the moment?
Not that I am clearly aware of.
Do we queue up and tell the Minister?
You can tell the Minister all right. There is no doubt that he will be told if such is the case.
Does the Minister realise that if the existing loan which has been authorised and is now in process of being released to the county council has already been committed to borrowers, the absence of sanction for the new loan means that no new applications can be entertained?
It does not necessarily mean any such thing, for the reason that I take it the loan approved last September, if it is now spent, must have been committed in advance of its being sanctioned. If that was the practice, that is something that I am not fully aware of. The loan was approved only last September and is not yet fully drawn.
It may be fully committed.
It seems clear that if it was fully committed, it was committed before it was approved.
Why should the council ask for an additional loan if they do not need it?
Because, I would say —this does not necessarily apply in this case—a number of applications are being made for loans because of the fact that there are people raising their voices suggesting there is no money to be got and therefore there is a rush of applications for loans.
Seeing that the chairman of the Monaghan County Council is a member of the Fianna Fáil Party, I think that is rather imaginative.