asked the Minister for the Environment the number of people who have availed of the £1,000 grant for first-time purchasers of houses.
Ceisteanna—Questions . Oral Answers . - House Purchase Grants .
7.
: A total of 12,696 applications for the £1,000 grant have been received in the Department up to 31 May 1978 and of these, 8,161 have been approved. 2,641 grants have been paid in the same period.
: Has the Minister any intention of increasing the grant in view of the escalation in the price of houses?
: At the time the £1,000 grant was made available it was said it would be reviewed from time to time.
: How soon will this review take place in view of the rapid increase in the price of houses?
: That I am not prepared to say, considering the first review took place the day after I became Minister. We are not given to long delays.
(Cavan-Monaghan): Since the date of the introduction of this grant does the Minister appreciate the cost of building houses has gone up by at least £2,500, and probably much more, and that the grant has been completely eroded, and will the Minister review it now having regard to the realities of the costs?
: As I said last July, the matter will be kept under review.
: That was 12 months ago.
: The grant is still popular and I would like to point out that 12,696 applications were received in nine months and the total number of grants in the first six months of 1977 was 2,040.
(Cavan-Monaghan): Would the Minister agree it is popular in the sense that anything is better than nothing? What does he mean by reviewing it and when does he propose to review it?
: I mean exactly what I said. It will be kept under review. I am not prepared to say when. Remember, there was no change in the grant for four years prior to my becoming Minister.
: But the price of a house did not go up by £4,000 as it has done in the last four months.
: The price went up by 114 per cent in four years.
(Cavan-Monaghan): The £1,000 grant is like last year's snow.
: The Minister says he will keep it under review. He could do that for the next seven years.
: He will not be there for the next seven years.
: When will it come under review?
: Is it not misleading for the Minister to say, as he did in his reply, that the number of grants paid out were 12,000 while the figures he gave earlier were 2,600? He compared the figures for the previous Administration in the previous year with those of the current year and the implication was he gave out 12,000 grants.
: I did not give that impression. The number of applications was 12,696. I gave the separate totals. I gave three figures—applications, approvals and grants.
: The Minister is making capital out of the fact that the scheme is so popular there were 12,000 odd applications.
: That is a statement, not a question.
: The fact is that the delay in having inspections carried out is causing havoc and has the Minister any intention of increasing the inspection staff commensurate with the so-called increase in applications?
: I have already done so and the Deputy exaggerates when he says delay is causing havoc. The delay is quite short. Admittedly there were delays initially because of the big number of applications.
: There still are delays.
: More staff had to be recruited and at the moment more inspectors are being recruited. The existing staff are working overtime.
: What extra staff has been recruited in the inspectorate?
: If the Deputy will put down a question I will spell it out for him.
: How many? If the Minister is so certain there are extra staff, how many?
: Put down a question.
: A great number of our queries would not arise if the Minister would give some indication of what exactly he means by "review". Does he mean three months? If he will clarify what he means we will ask questions that make some sense. Review does not mean something specific.
: The Deputy is not asking a question.
(Cavan-Monaghan): Would the Minister agree that what his colleagues, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Economic Planning and Development, mean by review would be much more important than what the Minister means?
: I know what I mean by review and I intend to do exactly as I said.