Sinn Féin’s Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin is calling on the Minister for Housing to instruct local authorities to continue to accept applications for the home loan scheme even if their funds have been allocated.
He told RTE radio’s News at One that a high percentage of loans approved have not yet been drawn down.
“The Minister needs to pick up the phone and tell those local authorities to continue to accept applications which can then be approved and they can be drawn down when funding is restored.”
Mr Ó Broin was responding to the Minister’s acknowledgment at the Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government that 10 local authorities have run out of funding for the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme which allows first-time buyers to borrow up to 90% of a property's value from their local authority.
The Sinn Féin spokesperson said there was also an issue with the discrepancy over the length of time it is take some local authorities to process applications.
It is up to “four or five months” in some areas, he said.
“There are significant variations in the process. In some cases it is weeks, in some areas it is months. There has to be a standard time.”
Mr Ó Broin also queried the efficacy of the scheme in areas like Dublin where property prices are so high and the threshold for the scheme is €200,000.
“People need to be able to match the loan to an affordable house, otherwise there’s no point.”
