asked the Minister for Local Government the number of SDA loans approved in 1974, 1975 and 1976; and the percentage change.

The numbers were 11,900, 9,564 and 5,113 respectively. The percentage decrease between 1974 and 1975 was 19.63 and between 1975 and 1976, 46.54.

The total numbers of house-purchase loans approved by the main lending agencies were, as follows: 1972, 19,188; 1973, 19,833; 1974, 20,816; 1975, 25,869; 1976, 25,240.

Has the Minister any proposals to increase the limit of SDA loans in order to attract more borrowers?

That is a separate matter.

No, I have not. The Deputy is aware of the new loans which have been introduced for people who would normally qualify for local authority houses, and I am satisfied that there is adequate finance available to others who want to borrow money to build houses.

There are many people outside the local authority sphere who would like to buy a house but cannot do it.

They can do it if they so wish. Last year building societies lent £100 million and the banks £20 million. For the first two months of this year the net inflow to the building societies was £14 million, and if that continues they will have even more to lend for building during the year; and the banks have again come forward with £20 million. Therefore, I think there will be adequate money available.

As the Minister knows, the SDA scheme is an attractive one and it should be preserved.

When it was at the fixed rate of 9 per cent and the building societies' rate was higher, it was more attractive than it is now; they are now about on a par.

They do not have a fixed rate?

No, they do not have a fixed rate but I think people are prepared to pay the interest rate required.

I know the Minister has made up his mind on this and we are not going to change that. The biggest fear people have about building society loans is that the rate of interest can go up, whereas in the case of a local authority loan the rate of interest applying at the date of obtaining the loan obtains throughout the repayment period.

I am afraid this is not in order.

That is the comment I made to Deputy Moore. I should like to add that there is a considerable amount of building under SDA loans still because there are over 8,290 approved applications on the hands of local authority worth over £27 million. Deputy Callanan is aware that in his county particularly a lot of use is still made of SDA loans by farmers who want only some of the money to build their houses and who find it very useful.

Surely the Minister is aware——

Deputies must confine their questions to the question on the Order Paper.

Surely the Minister is aware of a great outcry all over the country—I might say a unanimous outcry from members of all parties— that the Minister's stand in this matter is very wrong and ill-informed?

The Deputy is entering into another area.

I am aware that many people have been making a lot of noise about it but, when the facts are pointed out to them, they usually agree that they have been misinformed.

Members of the Minister's own party were unanimous that he was wrong in this. It is not enough to say that this blind spot might be caused by his canine colleagues on the opposite benches.

That remark is hardly in order.

It appears that the Minister is very wrong.

A reference to "canine colleagues" is most disorderly.

The junior canine members could make comment.

I hope reference was not being made to me.

No, I would not say "junior" in the Deputy's case.

Having regard to what the Minister said in relation to the figures for SDA loans on the one hand and banks and building societies on the other, does he accept the fact that people who qualify for a SDA loan may not qualify for a bank or building society loan?

There are people who do not qualify for bank or building society loans but they are very few. People who do not normally qualify for bank or building society loans do qualify for the new type of local authority loans which will allow them to build their houses—in fact they would get very much more if they wanted it. Having been in Finance, Deputy Colley will agree with me that it is no function of the State to provide all the money for those who want to build houses no matter how rich they may be. I do not think we will find much disagreement on this point. Those who can borrow money other than from local authorities should be encouraged to do so and I think are doing it in a big way.

Whether or not I agree, I am sure the Minister has a little difficulty in reconciling what he is saying now with what he was saying before the last general election about the necessity for State and local authority involvement.

No, as a matter of fact I have proven what I said before the last general election—that there needed to be a step-up in the number of local authority houses built. This has been carried out because we have doubled the number built by Fianna Fáil. We are now building an average of 25,000 houses per year as against 10,400 in 16 years of Fianna Fáil Administration. Therefore, Deputies should not try that one because it will not work at all.

15.

asked the Minister for Local Government the total number of private dwellings under construction at 31st December 1975 and at 31st December 1976.

This information is not available in my Department. However, I understand that the feasibility of measuring work in progress in the private house building sector is one of the matters which have been under consideration by a working party comprising officials of my Department and representatives of the building and construction industry. I expect the report of the working party to be available to me very shortly.

Did the Minister say that figures are not available in his Department?

No, not at present; they are not available. Apparently the system which was in operation did not allow that but there were long discussions between the CIF and my Department. The report should be with me within days and it is hoped to get an agreed formula.

Is it true to say that the figure as to the total number of houses under construction was available?

The total number completed was easy enough to get.

But not those under construction?

No, not those under construction but we hope to be able to do so from this year onwards.

16.

asked the Minister for Local Government the total number of local authority dwellings under construction, at the tender stage and at the planning stage at 31st December 1975, and at 31st December 1976; and the percentage change.

In the local authority housing construction programme, work was in progress on 8,376 dwellings at 31st December, 1975, and on 8,281 dwellings at 31st December, 1976, a percentage change of 1.1, due to output in 1976 exceeding the designated target of 6,500 completions by 763 dwellings. Four thousand, seven hundred and thirty-seven dwellings were at tender stage at 31st December, 1975, as compared to 4,392 at 31st December, 1976, a percentage change of 7.3 because starts in the last quarter of 1976 were 2,553 as compared to 1,248 in the last quarter of 1975.

Eighteen thousand, nine hundred and eighty-five dwellings were at the planning stage at 31st December, 1975, as compared to 15,843 at 31st December, 1976, while additional sites available at 31st December, 1975, comprised 53,729 as compared to 56,388 at 31st December, 1976. There was a transfer between April, 1976, and May, 1976, by the housing authorities concerned of 1,292 sites from the "planning" category to the "additional sites available" category. Adjusted to take account of this transfer, the percentage change of dwellings in planning at 31st December, 1975, as compared to 31st December, 1976, was 10.5.

Might I ask the Minister whether the statistics in relation to each of the years in question, and in particular those relating to the number of local authority dwellings under construction, were compiled in the same way?

Yes; I have explained the one change that has taken place.

Otherwise they were compiled on the same basis?

Yes.