asked the Minister for Justice if he will give an assurance that no Garda who owns a house will be transferred from his present district so long as it is not possible for him to sell his house because of the mortgage crisis.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Garda Transfers.
88.
(Cavan): Garda personnel are transferred as the exigencies of the service require. The modalities dealing with transfers are designed so as to impose the minimum hardship on members being transferred. Accordingly the Deputy can be assured that a member's housing position will be sympathetically considered.
As the Minister for Local Government has now made it impossible for a transferred member of the force to sell his existing house, would the Minister for Justice make the facilities available to raise the necessary mortgage for any member of the force transferred from one part of the country to another?
(Cavan): I do not at all accept the implication contained in the Deputy's supplementary. But I am saying that, as in the past, a humane and sympathetic approach will be taken in regard to garda transfers. It has always been a consideration where a garda is being transferred if he had difficulty in getting a house. Housing of the gardaí has always been a matter of consideration in transfers.
I am afraid the Minister is under a misapprehension. I am not talking about the difficulty of getting a house. I am talking about the difficulty a garda being transferred will face in selling his existing house. Can something be done in this regard? It is a very serious situation now because no mortgages are available.
(Cavan): I do not accept what the Deputy has said in regard to mortgages or selling houses.
The Minister does not read the newspapers.
(Cavan): As the Deputy's colleague, the spokesman on Local Government knows, everything is under control and running smoothly.
Except loans for second-hand houses.
In the event of a garda being transferred and he wants to buy a house he cannot do so because of the present position. Therefore, he must maintain two houses.
(Cavan): Obviously the Deputy did not listen to my original reply.