Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy
This morning and afternoon.
Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy is addressing the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government.
His appearance follows a report on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland yesterday in which journalist Louise Byrne reported that, according to documents she obtained under Freedom Of Information, the Department of Housing – in a briefing note dated January 31, 2019, to its press office – said further approvals under the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan Scheme are not currently being issued for these particular loans.
Specifically, the memo said the department “has been advised that no further approvals should issue for now”.
These loans allow first-time buyers to borrow up to 90 per cent of a property’s value from their local authority. The conditions to secure one of these loans includes that the borrower has to show they’ve been turned down for mortgage approval by two banks, while gross earnings cannot exceed €50,000 for a single person or €75,000 for a couple.
Yesterday, in response to questions from Fianna Fáil leader Mícheál Martin about this memo and – specifically Mr Martin claiming Mr Murphy didn’t tell the Dáil that no further approvals were to be issued, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the Government needs to decide whether to increase the scheme’s initial cap of €200m, and it needs to consult with the Central Bank.
Further to this…
Mr Murphy told the committee this morning that the scheme is not closed, money for the scheme has not run out and people can still apply for these loans.
He also told committee member Fianna Fáil TD Darragh O’Brien, who claimed to be possession of a copy of the memo obtained by RTÉ, is not his memo.
He said:
“I’m telling you I don’t know what the memo is, I’m telling you it didn’t come from my department. That’s what I’ve been informed. I’m telling you that memo did not come from my department…
“I don’t have the memo, it’s not my memo…
“It’s not my memo. The FOI was released by DEPR [Department of Public Expenditure and Reform] not by my department. It’s not my memo.”
Earlier, Mr O’Brien asked Mr Murphy not to take the public for fools and said there are 100s of people who are concerned about the loan applications under the scheme.
Mr Murphy said:
“Any confusion here has been caused by people asking questions that they either know the answers to or want to cause confusion.”
He also said:
“I’m genuinely surprised about how this was reported yesterday. The scheme is not closed, funding has not run out and I’ve been very clear about how it’s progressing.”
Watch live here
Yesterday: ‘It’s Low-Income People Being Let Down Again’
…mmm…such convenient contradictions…certain organisations and government departments seem prone to these occurances…
It’s like a never ending loop of incompetence with this Murphy clown. Incompetence, ineptitude, and a massive ego. I mean has he ever been successful in anything he has touched. No he has not. Out of his depth and out of his mind. The lazy thick Irish Paddy voter loves him though, nothing to see here.
No one loves Eoghan Murphy. You may get that notion out of your head before I come a slap it out of your head.
BadAtMemos surely will make an appearance here.
Assuming they got the memo, of course.
Finding memo
Top of his game that lad, what?
How many times did he say it wasn’t his memo? I’ll be keeping an eye out for the inevitable ”oh, it actually was mine all along”.
Might not be, but seeing as this clown doesn’t have a clue what he is doing, constantly spoofs about everything from homeless figures to build numbers, he gets zero benefit of the doubt.
Trumps cabinet look capable compared to these halfwits.
I hope Bodger shows us the total poo that Catherine Murphy has to put up with today.
At Leaders Questions, she asked Leo how many homes were built by local authorities last year and if it is true that Dublin City Council built 21. Catherine revealed that if you exclude “regeneration” (which could be the replacement of a moulding sealant around a bath) and other govt spin, local authorities appeared to have built just 1,054 homes, well short of the 2,022 homes which the galoot at the Dept of Housing is claiming, and well short of the 8,000 homes which govt TDs are spinning on any radio programme that will listen.
Leo didn’t answer the question, saying the information is available elsewhere (it’s not) and then attacked Catherine for suggesting homes built by the burgeoning housing association sector don’t count. It was outrageous as Catherine was suggesting no such thing.
Answer the question Leo or Eoghan, how many homes were built by local authorities in 2018? How many were built by Dublin City Council?
This isn’t going away.
@Cian
Why are you deliberately and obviously telling blatant falsehoods?
Wannabe a Leo do you? You talk a similar level of spin.
Show me an example where I told a blatant falsehood.
It’s right there. But no point in talking further seeing as you are incapable of honesty. Your post said I said things I did not.
Just like Leo liar.
Where? This is my second comment.
The first was were I asked why you were accusing me of lying.
Can we just move bunny’s boy to Egypt to live in denile