asked the Minister for Local Government if he proposes to raise the level of SDA loans to at least £6,000; and, if so, when.
21.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Housing Loans and Grants.
20.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he will increase local authority loans; and, if so, the amount of the increase.
22.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he will raise the income limit for SDA loans to £3,000 and the maximum loan to £6,000.
23.
asked the Minister for Local Government if, in view of the crisis in the private building sector, he will increase the income limit for SDA loans from £2,350 to £3,000 and the maximum loan from £4,500 to £6,000.
24.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he intends to implement any improvements in the conditions for local authority grants and loans for housing in the immediate future.
25.
asked the Minister for Local Government if, in view of the difficulties being experienced by intending house purchasers in obtaining loans, he will raise the limit of SDA loans to £6,000 and the upper income limit to £3,000.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 to 25 together.
While I do not propose to increase the maximum local authority house purchase loan limit and income limits for such loans and grants at the present time, I am keeping the question of these limits under continuing review.
In view of the fact that local authority houses now being tendered for are costing up to £6,400, without site development, does the Minister not see a need for raising local authority loans to at least £6,000? If he did so it would help people who have to buy their homes and who are not in a financial position to borrow money outside of the local authority.
Since I became Minister I raised the limit twice. If Deputy Davern's suggestion was the answer to the whole problem then it could be done easily. However, the facts are that there are ample applications coming in for loans at the figure at present set. Therefore, it must be of use to those who are applying. The number of people who applied for loans in the last 12 months under the present scheme has increased from 5,600 to well over 11,500. If there was an unlimited amount of money available so that everybody who felt they could use the money were allowed to qualify, then it would be quite simple to do what has been suggested but I believe the scheme is doing what the legislation suggested should be done by keeping the income limit at the amount it is.
Does the Minister not agree that local authority loans were meant for the people who would not qualify for local authority houses and who would not qualify for loans other than those granted under the SDA? Does the Minister not agree that setting the loan limit at £4,500 catches them in between the market? The Minister is aware that £4,500 would not build a house today but the deeds of people purchasing such houses are fully surrendered for that figure with the result that they cannot borrow money elsewhere. In view of the fact that there are many more applications for the loan of £4,500 does the Minister not agree that this is an indication that there are no other loans available in the country?
A number of other Deputies are interested in the Minister's reply and the Chair is anxious to facilitate those Deputies who have questions on the subject.
The Deputy has not got the picture right. The average amount of loan applied for is well under £4,500 so that it must be of great use to a lot of people. A total of 16,404 applicants have applied for loans to the value of £55.65 million as against a much smaller amount in 1973. People are using this loan and are finding it very useful. What Deputy Davern is suggesting is that everybody who feels he should get a loan should be able to go to the local authority for that loan, but I do not agree.
No. Where would a young married man with only one income get a loan of £4,500 from?
The Deputy is forgetting another element.
The Minister is talking about people who have houses to sell.
The Deputy is forgetting about those who have to repay a loan. If they obtain much more than £4,500 they will find it extremely difficult to find the money to repay. We should be realistic about this.
Would the Minister agree that the private housing sector in the Dublin area is grinding to a halt and that the step suggested of increasing the SDA income limit to £3,000 and the loan limit to £6,000 is the first step and only a step towards getting this industry going again?
Although Deputy Burke should know more than he is saying about this——
I know quite a lot about it.
——the position is that the building industry is not grinding to a halt. The building industry produced over 25,000 houses last year and will do the same before the end of next March in spite of all the statements made by people who do not seem to understand the facts.
Nobody has become unemployed?
Deputy Molloy talked about that before and he was not able to produce the figures.
The Minister said he was sure they were going to build 25,000 houses before next March. I hope he is right.
The Deputy does not sound as if he did.
I have grave doubts about it, and unless the Minister gives some injection by what we ask for the building trade, the momentum of depression will increase. I want to appeal to the Minister to do something. I have been around some of the——
The Deputy is making a long statement.
There is a crisis in the private sector in regard to loans.
Does Deputy Moore know that the Government have given exactly twice the amount for housing this year that was given in the last year when Deputy Molloy was Minister? He should not talk nonsense.
The Minister must remember the rate of inflation. The Minister misses the whole point here, or he never heard of inflation?
Deputy Moore must not engage in argument. He may ask a question.
If the Minister will not raise housing loans, will he curtail the price of houses?
I am raising the houses. That is the important thing.
The Chair is getting off this question shortly. The House has spent a long time on it.
On Question No. 24, could I ask the Minister for Local Government if he is aware of the statement made by the Tánaiste in Wicklow last June that it was the Government's intention to implement improvements in the conditions for local authority grants and loans for housing in the immediate future, that this statement was made prior to the local elections, and that his answer today seems to contradict the offer of increases in the loans and the conditions at that time?
When Deputy Molloy was Minister he did not increase them at all. They were scandalously low when I took them over and I increased them twice.
I want to tell the Minister——
The Deputy must ask a question.
——that he came in here to stonewall and his answers are an insult to the intelligence of his own colleagues.
Question No. 26.
May I ask one more supplementary?
While the major part of the capital required——
On a point of order——
Next question.
A Cheann Comhairle——
Deputy Burke must realise the Chair is in control of Question Time and has sought to give Deputies who have questions down fair latitude. He has passed on to the next question, and the Deputy may not challenge the Chair in this fashion.
He took five questions together.
On a point of order, he lumped five questions together.
That is not a point of order.
I was allowed one supplementary. Are you trying to protect him? Nothing can protect him from the wrath of the people.
Deputy Burke is the last person who should talk about the wrath of the people.
26.
asked the Minister for Local Government if sufficient money is available from the Local Loans Fund for SDA loans, in view of increased demands.
While the major part of the capital required to finance local authorities' house-purchase loans schemes comes from the Local Loans Fund, it has been the practice for several years past to find a proportion of the necessary money from the authorities' own internal capital resources.
Subject to this, I would like to inform the Deputy that the original allocation for the schemes under the public capital programme for the nine months ending 31st December, 1974, was increased last July from £17.4 million to £26.4 million in order to meet the increasing demand for the loans. This increase of more than 50 per cent in the allocation should enable adequate funds to be made available to meet requirements. However, I am having the position in each local authority area examined so that capital surplus to requirements in any area can be reassigned to areas where a need for extra money is anticipated.
Is the Minister aware that certain local authorities are awaiting the Ministers sanction for the allocation of money to pay out loans that have been approved for many months?
I am not so aware.
I would inform the Minister that in Sligo County Council and in Roscommon County Council that is the position.
It is only fair to tell Deputy MacSharry that Sligo County Council's allocation was for £150,000 and so far they have drawn only £100,000 of that. Therefore, I cannot see where——
I will show the Minister where, because he has not given his sanction for the rest. That is what is wrong, and it is all a big bluff on the Minister's part.
No, it is not.
People are waiting for finance for the last six months.
Deputy MacSharry had better take that up with his county council who can, perhaps, answer that question.
(Interruptions.)
Let us have questions in an orderly fashion, please. Let the shouting cease.
The county council have got the money.
They have not.
I am stating categorically they have got the money.
27.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he will take steps to ensure that local authority house loans are available to married applicants who have not reached the age of 21 years at the time of application.
As legal contracts cannot be entered into with minors housing authorities cannot make house-purchase loans to persons under 21 years of age.
I am asking the Minister if he will consider changing the law.
It is a matter for the Minister for Justice to reduce the age limit at which contracts may be entered into, and it is proposed to refer it to that Department for observations.
Why did the Minister not give me that information in his reply?
28.
asked the Minister for Local Government the amount allocated for SDA loans to each local authority for 1974.
29.
asked the Minister for Local Government the amount paid out in SDA loans to each local authority on 30th September, 1974.
30.
asked the Minister for Local Government the total number of applications on hands for SDA loans to each local authority on 30th September, 1974.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 28, 29 and 30 together. As the reply is in the form of a tabular statement I propose to have it circulated with the Official Report.
Following is the statement:
|
(1) |
(2) |
(3) |
(4) |
|
Local Authority |
Capital Allocation for 1974 for loans and grants |
Total amount paid to each authority in respect of loans at 30th September, 1974 |
Number of loan applications on hands at 30th September, 1974 |
|
£ |
£ |
||
|
Carlow County Council |
252,500 |
104,000 |
205 |
|
Cavan County Council |
330,000 |
140,000 |
276 |
|
Clare County Council |
1,110,000 |
721,000 |
540 |
|
Cork County Council |
2,000,000 |
1,600,000 |
3,012 |
|
Donegal County Council |
530,000 |
200,000 |
643 |
|
Dublin County Council |
9,300,000 |
4,950,000 |
2,952 |
|
Dún Laoghaire B.C. |
60,000 |
30,000 |
12 |
|
Galway County Council |
500,000 |
305,000 |
660 |
|
Galway B.C. |
100,000 |
22 |
|
|
Kerry County Council |
550,000 |
390,000 |
579 |
|
Kildare County Council |
800,000 |
556,000 |
434 |
|
Kilkenny County Council |
650,000 |
340,000 |
330 |
|
Kilkenny B.C. |
120,000 |
100,000 |
43 |
|
Laois County Council |
150,000 |
100,000 |
229 |
|
Leitrim County Council |
150,000 |
90,000 |
150 |
|
Limerick County Council |
1,000,000 |
700,000 |
602 |
|
Longford County Council |
260,000 |
167,500 |
209 |
|
Louth County Council |
450,000 |
210,000 |
281 |
|
Drogheda B.C. |
400,000 |
339,000 |
82 |
|
Dundalk U.D.C. |
450,000 |
376,000 |
64 |
|
Mayo County Council |
450,000 |
196,500 |
477 |
|
Meath County Council |
1,100,000 |
735,300 |
1,077 |
|
Monaghan County Council |
430,000 |
300,000 |
150 |
|
Offaly County Council |
250,000 |
180,000 |
315 |
|
Roscommon County Council |
250,000 |
175,000 |
Not available |
|
Sligo County Council |
150,000 |
80,000 |
178 |
|
Sligo B.C. |
97,500 |
80,000 |
47 |
|
Tipperary (N.R.) County Council |
300,000 |
160,000 |
321 |
|
Tipperary (S.R.) County Council |
550,000 |
425,000 |
193 |
|
Clonmel B.C. |
150,000 |
91,400 |
40 |
|
Waterford County Council |
550,000 |
270,000 |
345 |
|
Westmeath County Council |
800,000 |
450,000 |
325 |
|
Athlone U.D.C. |
70,000 |
30,000 |
42 |
|
Wexford County Council |
550,000 |
460,000 |
230 |
|
Wexford B.C. |
50,000 |
40,000 |
8 |
|
Wicklow County Council |
590,000 |
300,000 |
432 |
|
Bray U.D.C. |
350,000 |
295,000 |
31 |
|
Cork C.B.C. |
750,000 |
590,000 |
453 |
|
Dublin C.B.C. |
2,000,000 |
700,000 |
494 |
|
Limerick C.B.C. |
650,000 |
250,000 |
104 |
|
Waterford C.B.C. |
600,000 |
350,000 |
120 |
|
TOTAL |
£29,850,000 |
£17,576,700 |
16,707 |
1. Separate allocations are not made for house purchase and reconstruction loans. The figures in column 2 include in addition provision for supplementary grants.
2. In addition to the figure in column 3, a further sum of £1,857,000 has been paid in respect of supplementary grants.
31.
asked the Minister for Local Government if, in view of his reply to a question by Deputy Lemass on 30th October, 1973, he is now in a position to indicate the proposals he has regarding an increase in State housing grants.
32.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he will increase grants for the provision of domestic water supply and for sewerage facilities.
33.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he will make an increased grant available to handicapped persons constructing new houses for their own use.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 31, 32 and 33 together.
I am at present examining the results of a review of housing grants schemes in the context of housing financing generally. This examination is not yet completed and, accordingly, I cannot say what proposals will be made for changes in the grants schemes.
Would the Minister agree that the grants that are available for the private sector are useless on account of inflation? Would he also agree there is a differential of £300 in the grant to the farmer as against the non-farmer? Would he consider increasing both of them and making them equal?
As I told Deputy Lemass, I am at present having the whole matter reviewed.
Is the Minister aware that when reconstruction loans were increased from £120 to £200 the water and sewerage grant remained static at £75 and remains so to date? Does he not consider that this should be increased immediately?
It is a point of view.
Is it not true that I asked a similar question a year ago and that the answer the Minister gave me at that time was similar? In other words, it is a continuing process of consideration.
Yes, 30th October, 1973, is the date of the previous question.
Twelve months and nothing happens.
Question No. 34.
I did not hear the answer to No. 33.
Nos. 31, 32 and 33 were taken together.
I did not know the Minister was replying to Nos. 31, 32 and 33 together. I am surprised he put No. 33 in.
It was announced. The Chair repeated it. I cannot go back on it.
Did the Minister say he was or was not prepared to consider granting special concessions to handicapped persons building houses for themselves?
I said the whole question of housing grants is under consideration.
So there is no action?